Paul Tuns:
On Jan. 6, Margaret Marsilla, shared a post on her Facebook account mourning the euthanasia death of her 26-year-old son Kinao Vafaiean on Dec. 30.
Marsilla wrote on Facebook: “Four years ago, here in Ontario, we were able to stop his euthanasia and get him some help. He was alive because people stepped in when he was vulnerable and not capable of making a final, irreversible decision. Tragically, the Canadian system later allowed something very different to happen in Vancouver, where a doctor named Dr Ellen Wiebe, AKA Dr Death #2, approved his death based on mental illness.”
After being denied approval for MAiD in Ontario in 2022, Vafaiean went to British Columbia to be killed in late 2025 by Wiebe.
Wiebe is a former abortionist responsible for the clinical trials of the abortion pill in 2001 but has since become one of Canada’s most prolific euthanasia doctors with features about the deadly toll of her practice in international papers such as the New York Times and England’s The Guardian. Wiebe was the first doctor to commit a legal euthanasia in Canada in 2016 but has also been blocked by the courts from carrying out a potentially illegal euthanasia death, was stripped of her access to a Calgary health facility because of issues surrounding some of her euthanasia deaths, and was reported to have carried out the euthanasia of a British Columbia man on day release from a mental health facility.
According to media reports in 2024 Wiebe has committed more than 400 euthanasia killings. She also serves on the clinical advisory council of Dying with Dignity Canada and is a board member and research director for the Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers.
Marsilla said that Wiebe approved her son’s death solely “based on mental illness,” which is not legal in Canada, and that Wiebe approved her son’s death when no other doctor would.
Under the Criminal Code, patients must suffer a “grievous and irremediable” health condition but to suffer solely from mental illness is not included under that definition until March 17, 2027. Conservative MP Tamara Jansens (Cloverdale-Langley City) has introduced a private member’s bill, C-218, to permanently disqualify mental illness as a grievous and irremediable condition.
Wiebe claims that every patient she has killed meets the legal criteria for Medical Assistance in Dying, telling Juno News that they were all “suffering unbearably and capable of making medical decisions,” she wrote in an email. Wiebe insisted that the particular diagnosis is unimportant but rather the condition of unbearable suffering.
In addition to suffering depression Vafaeian had diabetes and suffered vision loss.
Ryan Helfenbein wrote in Standing for Freedom, “Kiano Vafaeian needed treatment for depression. He needed hope and healing. His death was completely unnecessary and completely avoidable.”
Marsilla, who told the Vaughan Citizen that she supports MAiD for those with terminal illnesses, opposes Track 2 euthanasia for those whose health problems are not life-threatening. “There need to be more safeguards,” she said. “He was not sound of mind, he was having highs and lows all the time. There were times when he loved life, there were times he was in a deep dark hole.”
Marsilla wrote Wiebe’s actions “reveal a pattern of coldness and disregard for vulnerable human life,” about which she could no longer stay silent. “No compassion. No protection. No effort to save a life, only to end it. This is not healthcare. This is a failure of ethics, accountability, and humanity.” She said she would endeavour to make Wiebe accountable for her son’s death. Marsilla told Rebel News that “this approval was improper” and she will work to get justice for the premature death of her son.
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