MAID Canada Or KILL Canada? The Power of Words in Our National Conversation

It is very common nowadays to hear it said that people no longer can think or even want to think. In my experience, people usually exempt themselves from this phenomenon, and are really saying, “Everyone except me and my friends have stopped thinking.”

I am not writing to comment on the proportion of people who think, and whether that proportion is going up or down. For today, I want to remind you that people think with words. If you think with words, then using certain words will push you to certain “necessary” and “plausible” conclusions. Therefore, the words and the acronyms that you use as a word matter a great deal.

If this is true, then our attempt to discourage and then defeat the growth of MAID in Canada is doomed to failure. Why? Well, who doesn’t want the state to provide a free, medical doctor curated, maid service?

I propose that we who are opposed to MAID stop using that acronym and start using KILL. Many people would like the government to provide free maid service; no one wants the government to kill them. The acronym KILL stands for “Killing Innocent Lives Legally.” Many people still love Canada, so who can be in favour of KILL Canada?

One moment, how does KILL Canada help? Don’t people already know what MAID stands for?

Let me explain further.

First: MAID Hides the Truth

MAID is used to hide the truth about what is involved. One of the things that characterises Canadians is they do not want to talk about death. To speak of death at a party is, by and large, a social faux pas.

MAID does have the “D” in it, but the letter stands for the softer word “dying” not “death” or “killing.” Dying is not good, but it is not death! People can still hide their heart and mind.

The difference between “death/dead” and “dying” is significant. Consider two scenarios involving doctors.

In scenario one, you get called into the doctor’s office and she gives you hard news. She says, “You have untreatable, stage four, advanced cancer. You are dying. You have a ten percent chance of living four months, and no chance of being alive in six months.” Many of us know people who have gotten news like this. But lots of people think, “Well, I might be dying, but I am not dead yet! There is still hope!”

Many of us have been to a party where we learn someone has gotten this bad news, but we are also told with approval that they are fighting it! Many of us have been to funerals where they talk about the deceased person’s noble fight against cancer, and maybe how much longer they lived than what the doctors had said.

But now consider scenario two. You go to see the doctor because he is going to administer MAID. When this appointment ends, you do not leave dying—you are taken away as a corpse. Anything less than dead is a massive failure for the doctor. So the word “dying” is far softer than “dead,” but “dying” is not true.

But back to our friendly neighbourhood MAID activists, why even say the word “dying?” Just keep saying MAID and not only the dying part is effaced, but also the death/killing part.

Second: The Shell Game with Medical Doctors

MAID plays a shell game with the idea of a medical doctor. By the way, a “shell game” is “a deceptive and evasive action or ploy, especially a political one.” (From Google search, Oxford Languages)

Up until very recently, Canadian medical doctors were bound by the Hippocratic oath. One version of part of this oath goes like this: “I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but I will never use it to injure or wrong them.” (From a blog, “Hippocratic Oath and Autonomy, St. Joseph’s University” accessed by Google search).

So MAID cleverly emphasizes that it is a medical doctor who administers the injection. Most Canadians still carry around the idea that a doctor will not intentionally injure or wrong them, so having a doctor do the procedure is somehow reassuring. But the doctor is in fact administering a lethal poison with the intent of killing the person!

But for now, “medical doctor” still gives a halo and “comfy blanket vibe” to what is really happening—namely you come into the presence of a doctor so that he or she will kill you.

Third: The Power of Positive Language

The acronym MAID is powerful and positive. As I said above, who does not want a free government-provided, medically curated MAID service? Doesn’t that sound terrific? Who could plausibly be opposed to this?

Even those of us who would tidy up the house before the maid came, we still wouldn’t mind some help with the cleaning. So the key for activists, reporters, bureaucrats and legal types is to keep saying the word MAID. Think in terms of the acronym MAID and the arguments and reasonableness is plausible and irresistible—which is why we need to change the word to the verb KILL.

Fourth: Truth versus Deception

KILL is the truth and MAID is dissembling, cloaking, and confusion. There is no need for a doctor or even a nurse with KILL. You are not just dying; you will be killed.

The truth is that Canadian society has decided that it is a good thing to make it legal and virtuous for some people to administer a lethal dose of poison so that you die. There is nothing curated or personalised about the event—you come alive, you get injected or you swallow a lethal dose of poison, and you die.

The doctor who can save your life is the one who kills you; in fact, the doctor guarantees your death! There is no inherent need for a doctor to inject you or give you something to swallow. Lots of people can inject themselves or their loved one with a range of other drugs. Most of us can swallow pills without a doctor’s help.

So the “medical” part of MAID is a mere fig leaf. The truth is that it is now socially condoned to administer a lethal dose of poison. Canada’s elites are insisting that we should Kill Innocent Lives Legally. Once again, who wants the state to KILL them? Why on earth should we bow to KILL Canada?

Fifth: The Christian Call to Truth-Speaking

Christians love the city by being truth speakers who help the city know and speak the truth. Some of what I have written above was hard. I confess that I am very Canadian, and Canadians do not like plain speaking about killing and death when it is about themselves or their loved ones.

Everything within the Canadian psyche aches for ambiguity and dissembling and cloaking when it comes to death. That is why one of the most important gifts that gospel churches and gospel Christians can give their city and country is true, accurate, plain words.

So, no more MAID Canada. Call it what it is, KILL Canada. Who in their right mind wants the government to extend KILL Canada to more and more innocent people? What loyal Canadian can ever advocate for KILL Canada?

George Sinclair has served in a suburban and in a rural “multi-point” church. He is currently the Rector of Church of the Messiah in the heart of urban Ottawa. He was the Chair of Essentials Canada and founding Chair of his denomination, the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). He currently serves as the Chair of the ANiC task force to make it more deeply biblical at every level. He is the Principal of Ryle Seminary. He is blessed to have been married to Louise since 1981. They have 9 children and lots of sons and daughters-in-law and grandchildren. George is an original Council Member of The Gospel Coalition Canada.