The Delta Hospice Society in British Columbia is now looking to Alberta to establish a secular, euthanasia-free sanctuary hospice. This move aims to avoid B.C. government pressure to allow Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) in their care.
Angelina Ireland, the executive director of the non-profit society, said she and the board traveled to Alberta in July to explore a possible location for their hospice.
“We are actively searching for a property, and we have hundreds of thousands of dollars ready to buy one,” Ireland said in an email interview. “The situation in this country is urgent. The Delta Hospice Society has faced delays, barriers, and unfair treatment for too long.”
While the society still prefers to stay in B.C., Ireland has not received clear assurances from the provincial New Democratic Party (NDP) government. She fears the government will force the hospice to permit euthanasia. Ireland also shared that her messages to NDP officials in May went unanswered.
“We hear nothing back from the NDP—just silence,” she said.
Efforts to reach NDP MLA and minister Ravi Kahlon for comment were unsuccessful.
Ireland pointed to the B.C. government’s previous actions, which forced MAiD services into St. Paul’s Hospital, a Catholic institution that traditionally opposes euthanasia. The government has also required other public hospices and hospitals, including palliative care wards, to allow MAiD. Only 16 faith-based institutions, such as hospitals, hospices, and senior residences, are exempt under Vancouver Coastal Health’s MAiD guidelines.
However, the guide shows that MAiD facilities were set up near at least two of those exempt sites: St. Paul’s Hospital and St. John Hospice.
Because the Delta Hospice Society is not faith-based, it does not qualify for any religious exemption.
“We have always been a palliative-care organization, not a faith-based one,” Ireland explained. “We follow a true and historic definition of palliative care. We do not hasten death, so euthanasia is not part of our services.”
The society began leasing land from Fraser Health Authority in 2008 and built an $8 million hospice and supportive-care centre using private funding. While the society raised funds through a thrift store, the hospice’s operational costs came from Fraser Health.
When the society refused to allow euthanasia at the hospice, the government cancelled its lease, seized the buildings, and took over operations in 2021. The society was not compensated for the property or buildings.
Ireland said Alberta’s government has promised not to interfere with a secular, privately funded, MAiD-free hospice. Her team visited a building in Alberta last month that could be converted into a proper hospice with some renovations, though she did not disclose the exact location.
“We are not seeking funds from Alberta’s government, only freedom to provide care,” Ireland said.
The society plans to offer the Alberta hospice as a “national sanctuary” and welcome patients from B.C. who want to avoid what Ireland calls medical tyranny and live peacefully until natural death.
The B.C. Conservative Party has pledged that if elected, it will not force MAiD into any sanctuary hospice.
Dr. Anna Kindy, a family doctor and health critic for the official opposition, called the government’s seizure of Delta Hospice’s assets “completely wrong.” She strongly supports the society’s right to run a MAiD-free palliative-care centre and plans to raise the issue publicly.
End-of-life care, she said, should be “a personal choice. Government should not decide for you or remove options that you want.”
“And that is exactly what happened here,” Kindy added. “People who do not want to be near MAiD lost an option.”
