This unseemly betrayal of the weak and the vulnerable is disturbingly relevant in Canada in light of a recent resolution by the federal Liberals in favour of medically assisted killing and the looming passage of legislation to legalize euthanasia in Quebec. Momentum is accelerating in Canada towards the adoption of state-sanctioned medically assisted death. Canada’s euthanasia proponents argue death will only be administered in small numbers and under tight controls. The Belgium experience suggests otherwise.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are deplorable in any circumstance, but those who believe the practice can be strictly regulated, closely monitored and firmly restricted are deluding themselves. Once the ethical boundary has been crossed and society is persuaded that some assisted deaths are morally justifiable, incremental expansion is inevitable. The biggest hurdle to euthanasia and assisted suicide is the first one — the moral question — but when society’s conscience is eased on that issue subsequent hurdles seem much smaller.

In 2002, Belgian lawmakers believed euthanizing children was wrong but now, by a large majority, deem it acceptable. That’s sad but unsurprising.

Already in Quebec the secretary of Quebec’s College of Physicians has declared the province’s euthanasia law is just the beginning. He foresees the day when the discussion will become about euthanizing terminally ill children or adults who can no longer speak for themselves. “We have to think about that,” Dr. Yves Robert told the National Post.

The doctor is wrong. We should never be thinking about how far to extend euthanasia. Rather, we should be contemplating how society will be severely harmed should it backtrack on the fundamental Canadian value that promotes respect and protection for all human life from the moment of birth. This core value is reflected in laws that prohibit people from killing others or helping them kill themselves, and it is imbedded in medical codes of practice that obligate doctors to do no harm to patients, regardless of the circumstances. That is how it should be.

We will wander down a dark path if individuals are given the right to overrule society on this collective, fundamental value. In civilized society, life should be unassailable. For Catholics, it is also sacred. No individual should be allowed to waive another person’s moral and legal obligation to uphold life. The right to cause a death should never be anyone’s to give away. A society which abandons that principle invites steady moral erosion.

It is happening in Belgium, it could happen here.