Quebec man killed wife ‘out of love,’ citing Alzheimer’s diagnosis

An elderly Québec man was sentenced to more than a decade in prison after strangling his late-wife of more than 50 years.

Gilles Brassard, 81, told reporters that he ended her life out of compassion in September 2023, citing deteriorating health caused by Alzheimer’s.

Brassard pleaded guilty last week to second-degree murder after strangling Therese Brassard-Levesque with a rope. He made several attempts on her life, before attempting to overdose on medication himself, the court learned.

Though family members say Brassard was a loving husband, who could not bear to see his wife suffer any longer, he will serve a mandatory minimum of 10 years.

The province, meanwhile, permitted early requests for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) last month, despite facing federal pushback.

On October 30, the province allowed those with “serious and incurable diseases” like Alzheimer’s to request MAID. To be eligible, a person must be mentally sound and be assessed by two doctors or nurse practitioners.

The federal government has refused to amend the Criminal Code to protect doctors from possible prosecution, forcing Québec to take action through a directive to prosecutors.

A Leger poll found that 77% of Quebecers believe that people suffering from an illness “that can affect their cognitive ability” should be able to make an early request for the procedure. 

Rebel News' @SheilaGunnReid joined Fox News' Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) to discuss Canada's alarming expansion of the medical assistance in dying program (MAID).https://t.co/PoHbG4kDxW

On February 2, 2022, Health Minister Mark Holland introduced Bill C-39, delaying the expansion of MAID to Canadians whose sole underlying condition is a mental disorder.

Those persons could have accessed MAID as of March 17, 2023 but Parliament extended the temporary exclusion period until March 17, 2024. That too has been delayed, and remains before the House of Commons as of writing.

“Would Ottawa be tempted to challenge Quebec's choice to move forward? I'm not ready to say that,” Holland recently told La Presse. 

Before the lastest expansion of MAID, physicians said they were ill-equipped to meet the flood of applications, though at least one funeral home was willing to fill the void, for a fee.

“For me, it is essential to have a national conversation, because there is national involvement,” Holland said. “It's tricky because it's really a provincial competence,” the minister admits. 

On January 29, Conservative and NDP MPs on a special parliamentary committee called for a pause to the planned expansion of eligibility for mentally ill patients.

"Committee concludes that the medical system in Canada is not prepared for medical assistance in dying where mental disorder is the sole underlying medical condition,” the report reads. 

Nearly half (47%) of Leger respondents endorsed pausing the policy in place of more comprehensive consultations. However, 37% disagreed with the delay.

“Minister, there are no legislative safeguards,” said Conservative MP Michael Cooper at the Commons health committee, with Holland adopting the recommendation.

Québec’s commission on end-of-life care reported that 15 of 3,663 deaths since 2021 were non-compliant with provincial or federal laws. At the time, Ottawa permitted anyone 18 and older in “an advanced state of irreversible decline” to access MAID — not including the mentally ill. 

Alex Dhaliwal

Calgary Based Journalist

Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.