Committing Suicide an Offence in Canada, Unless the State Assists

"Investigators are working in collaboration with multiple jurisdictions across Ontario, nationally, and internationally, as we believe there could be more victims."

"We're aware that packages were shipped to over 40 countries. We're aware of 1,200 packages that have been shipped. We can't say categorically that all of those contain sodium nitrite."

"The mental health and well-being of our communities is our main priority. As such we will not tolerate criminal actions by those who prey on vulnerable individuals."

"We're in the process of executing search warrants ... as we move the investigation forward."

"We're still investigating those other deaths along with or law enforcement partners, both provincially and nationally and internationally."

"It's been a really hard slog. Our investigators have done a lot of leg work and we've used multiple avenues of investigation to determine that these two deaths we could link to these companies and to the accused."

Marc Andrews, Peel Regional Police deputy chief of operations support

"The OPP [Ontario Provincial Police] is calling on everyone to be vigilant of the online transactions and activity of family members and the arrival of any unexpected packages in the mail."

OPP Statement

"I'm not doing anything. I'm just selling a product. I'm not assisting. It's your choice. I'm not forcing you to buy anything."

"Perhaps you may want to stop people buying knives and guns."

Kenneth Law, 57, former aerospace engineer, latterly chef, Mississauga, Ontario resident

The MAiD law legalized assisted death for Canadians 18 and older with terminal illnesses in 2016. It was expanded in 2021 to include those with serious and chronic physical conditions, even if that condition was non-life threatening.   Photo: APTN file

 

Arrested following an investigation into online sales and distribution of sodium nitrate, Kenneth Law had informed an uncover reporter for The Times of London, that people felt he was doing "god's work". His business was an "avenue of escape". Following his arrest after an investigation linking his sales of sodium nitrite with a sudden death believed to have involved the chemical consumption, and another occurring soon afterward, he had a brief appearance in court, and was kept in custody pending a bail hearing.

 

Police in Ontario issued a global alert for over a thousand packages shipped from Mississauga believed to contain mail order chemicals that were used to commit suicide, the case linked to deaths of two Canadians and other people in Britain and the United States. Across the province, packages were sent to over a dozen communities.  Mr. Law now faces two charges of counselling or aiding suicide after the death of two adults in the region died. 

The arrest took place following an investigation that began March 31. It is investigating police contention that the deaths they were called to investigate were linked to the substance distributed and marketed online to people at risk of self-harm. Packages from several companies were identified: Imtime Cuisine, AmbuCA, ACademic, Escape Mode and I Cemac. 

 

Kenneth Law, a 57-year-old Mississauga man, faces two charges of counselling or aiding suicide after two adults in the region adjacent to Toronto died following an investigation involving the online sale and distribution of sodium nitrite. Photo by Peel Regional Police

Anyone seeing, receiving, or knowing of such packages from these businesses is urged by authorities to call their local police service. Sodium nitrite, legal in Canada, is described as a white, crystalline substance used as a food additive, commonly found in processed meats; the product acts as an agent that aids in the curing of meat products (think bacon for example). Consumption of large amounts of the substance can result in reduced oxygen levels impairing breathing and causing death.

A number of people are known to have died in Britain following consumption of the chemical. The Times of London newspaper traced these suicide deaths to Mississauga in their investigation, which led them to Law. During an interview, Kenneth Law is said to have informed the paper he had sold products to hundreds of people in Britain. His website is now defunct, where the product is offered as a meat curative. It is generally known that sodium nitrite is sought after for its other properties; as a gateway to planned suicide.

 

“Intentional consumption of certain amounts of this substance can reduce oxygen levels, impair breathing and can result in death,” according to a police statement. Photo by Peel Regional Police

 

It is beyond ironic that this situation is taking place in Canada, where assisted suicide is legal. It is called Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) and when it was first introduced it was confined to people in imminent danger of death linked to a medical condition who would chose to die to save themselves from greater agonies than what they are currently suffering. Since that control was loosened, people with mental conditions can choose to take advantage of MAID. 

It was then extended further to voluntarily ending the lives of children who live with unmitigated pain from a physical or mental condition that cannot be remediated. In essence, the government of
Canada lends itself to peoples' wishes to end their lives, at the very time when an individual is offering a chemical and a process to desperate people who are suicide-oriented. 

MAID is also available on request to convicts serving long sentences in Canadian prisons. There is an obvious moral connection to an individual committing murder that was once punishable by capital punishment, long since terminated in Canada. A moral state decided it wanted no part in ending the lives of convicted criminals. Canada has now turned its back on that standard of justice as well.

A hallway inside Port Cartier prison, located on Quebec's North Shore. Photo: APTN file

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