For years, Kelsi was one of many silent heroes with unknown stories - one of the nameless faceless who serve to protect their nation. In 2009, at just 19, she was deployed to Afghanistan, facing the worst of the war, and returning with PTSD.
Tormented by her affliction, Kelsi’s therapist suggested turning to art. Incorporating her trauma into her newfound escape, she started making jewellery from spent shell casings. She would later turn this new hobby into a successful enterprise: eyewear and jewellery brand Brass & Unity.
2023 saw the release of her wildly popular autobiography of the same name, detailing the horrors of Afghanistan and the mental fortitude she summoned to see it through. Since then, she has sat down for long-form interviews with Jordan Peterson, Lex Fridman, and, indeed, TRIGGERnometry. Today, she hosts the Brass & Unity Podcast, where she welcomes a plethora of public figures to share their stories of “leadership, resilience, and personal growth.”
Why did we invite her on?
We’ve had Kelsi on twice before. The first time, in March 2024, she shared the frank realities of life on the frontline and the PTSD you take home. It was a heartbreaking interview that remains a favourite of ours to this day.
Last year, she joined us for a staggering conversation on another subject close to her heart: MAiD - Canada’s ‘assisted dying’ initiative. It quickly went viral; today, it sits at over a million views.
It’s no wonder. The revelations Kelsi brought to our table left us utterly dumbfounded. We knew MAiD was a controversial enterprise, but we had no clue quite how bad things had gotten. As the idea gets bandied around more and more internationally, it only becomes more prescient.
16 months later, we wanted to know - has anything changed? Have things improved since we last spoke?
Yes, and no.
What did we learn?
”The definition of a serial killer is someone who has killed two or more people in separate events. We have doctors in this country who have killed over a thousand.”
Before we get into any of it, Kelsi insists we reframe the discussion. By calling it ‘MAiD’ or ‘assisted dying’, we are, knowingly or unknowingly, covering for it. Hiding how perverse and disturbing the practices actually are.
’Orwellian’ is a word that gets thrown around with wild abandon, often where it doesn’t apply. Thus, it’s lost its punch. That doesn’t mean it’s never appropriate. In this case, no other word applies.
One of George Carlin’s most incendiary routines covers this precise phenomenon. In just a few minutes, he charts the evolution of how “shell shock” became “battle fatigue”, and then became “post-traumatic stress disorder.” A dehumanising, disconnected form of speech that obscures the seriousness of what it’s meant to describe.
’MAiD’ is no different - This is a softening of language to launder something much, much more insidious.
”We need to change the way we talk about this. When you soften language, you disguise what it is. When you say ‘MAiD’, it sounds fluffy and peaceful. It isn’t - this is a eugenics program.”
”Eugenics.” It’s as loaded a term as you’ll find, and one of the most serious accusations that can be levied against a state.
The word recalls Nazi science and compulsory sterilisation. Is Kelsie at risk of being hyperbolic? If not, it invites the question: why?
Let’s grant Kelsie’s assertion that this is a eugenics campaign. Why would Canada want that? Why would a country murder its own citizens, even if they are a burden?
”Maybe it doesn’t meet the UN definition of eugenics, but what does it actually mean for a society? You get rid of all the difficult eaters, the mentally disabled, the vulnerable, the people who are a burden on the system. When you cost the government a lot of money, when you’re not a perfectly well-rounded person, you get offered MAiD.”
Say what you will about Canada, it’s still a developed country. One firmly in the ‘First World’. Even if they are offering these services, surely it’s done under the advisement of qualified, sensible practitioners. A bureaucracy of trained and ethical doctors who will only pass the most desperate cases… Right?
”[When you go for MAiD], you have two ‘assessors’ - I call them ‘crazy psychopaths’, because that’s what they are - and they check whether you are psychologically stable enough to decide to end your life. They bill you $300; $50 for every 15 minutes. If they agree, you go to the doctor who’s going to poison you to death. They can charge up to $500. They call it a ‘procedure’, but I can’t call it that. It’s medical murder. They’re making $800 for every person they can legally kill. You think that’s not an incentive? You’re out of your mind. Money matters.”
And once it’s all ‘agreed’, what happens then? How is the ‘assisted dying’ handled?
”They give you a cocktail of drugs and say, ‘Drink this.’ What do we know about those drugs? We know it’s nearly identical to the recipe for the lethal injection. Meanwhile, capital punishment is illegal. The government wants its people to have that as an option, but we can’t give it to people who rape children? That’s a problem.”
It’s tempting - comforting, even - to tell ourselves that these cases are rare.
Even as Kelsi asks, ”What about the girl with anorexia who was MAiD-ed? What about the patient who died 137 hours after being poisoned?”
It’s easy to condemn any policy on the evidence of its worst applications. Even the most ardent euthanasia advocates would struggle to defend such examples. So, what about the opposite?
Let’s imagine - as we easily can - an elderly patient who has suffered from a debilitating stroke. They have lost all independence, any capacity to communicate, and it’s never coming back. They spend their waking hours in a state of abject, undulling, panicked agony.
What does keeping them alive serve? Isn’t, in that example, the induction of a painless death the best thing for their well-being? What about their dignity?
