The Americas | Choosing your moment

Canada has adopted assisted dying faster than anywhere on Earth

The province of Quebec now allows those with deteriorating illnesses to request an assisted death in advance

The illustration shows a serene woman blending with dots, symbolising introspection, transformation or fragmented identity. Replicating Alzheimer’s disease.
Illustration: Lehal Kovacs
|Ottawa

Sandra Demontigny watched early-onset Alzheimer’s transform her athletic father from a robust patriarch into a battered shell of a man. Once the disease took hold, his untethered energy compelled him to walk into walls and crawl aimlessly along floors. He died aged 53, his face streaked with tears of frustration. When Ms Demontigny was diagnosed with the same, fatal neurodegenerative disease at 39, she vowed that she would not endure her father’s undignified death. Now she can take comfort in knowing she will not.

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This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Choosing your moment”

From the January 18th 2025 edition

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