Disabled Canadian man celebrates his 'deathaversary' a year on from the day he was supposed to die after being offered euthanasia 'because he was homeless' - but was saved at the last minute by a fundraiser which pulled him out of crippling debt

A disabled Canadian man who was ready to be euthanised because he didn't want to choose between death and homelessness has celebrated his 'deathaversary' - and says that the only reason he's alive today is because people raised enough money to improve his financial situation.

Amir Farsoud opened up about how easy it was for him to be found eligible for the assisted death programme - even though he was only looking at the option because of his dire housing situation.

Speaking to actress and disability activist Liz Carr for her BBC documentary Better Off Dead?, which is airing tonight at 9pm, he said that he's 'thinking of having friends over and raising a glass' to celebrate being alive.

If it wasn't for his story going viral and inspiring people to donate, he revealed, he would have died in November 2022. 

'For the last almost eight years I've had the misfortune of being on the Ontario disability support programme, which gives a maximum of just over $1,300 to a single adult monthly,' he recounted. 

Amir Farsoud opened up about how easy it was for him to be found eligible for the assisted death programme 

'As a frame of reference, the average one bedroom apartment in this province costs almost twice what a person on disability makes.'

Amir, 55, applied for the drastic measure after the rooming house where he lives was put on the market.

'Literally after like four months of looking there was no place - there did not exist a place - that I could afford to live in,' he explained. 

'At which point I decided - OK, I'm not going to be homeless. I'd been homeless before.'

Amir revealed that the winters there are 'harsh' if you're sleeping rough.

'Six, seven months of the year, having subzero temperatures 24 hours a day seven days a week,' he said.

'There's people that try to keep warm with makeshift fires and then end up burning to death. There's people that freeze to death. No matter what I knew that homelessness was off the table.'

Amir admitted he was all out of options, pending 'miraculously finding a spot', ending his own life, or looking into Canada's assisted death programme, known as MAID.

Amir, 55, applied for the drastic measure after the rooming house where he lives was put on the market. Pictured in 2022

Speaking to actress and disability activist Liz Carr for her BBC documentary Better Off Dead?, which is airing tonight at 9pm, he said that he's 'thinking of having a friends over and raising a glass' to celebrate being alive

He told Liz that he made it clear to medical professionals that his choice was driven by his housing situation. 

'I did tell my doctor right off the bat that while I qualify for medical reasons, the reason I'm asking is my socio economic position at the moment,' he added.

The doctor approved Amir for MAID under grounds of 'unbearable suffering' - which means that after a 90 day assessment and waiting period, he could be euthanised.

In contrast, waiting lists for social housing in Ontario can be over a decade.

'I was basically just waiting for the 90 days to be up,' he revealed. 'I was marking time.'

Amir felt like 'the condemned guy who was waiting for his hour' when he got a call from a Toronto reporter who reached out for an interview.

But his story made headlines in Canada, and a GoFundMe page set up in his name by a stranger wound up raising him over $60,000 - enough to get him new housing and to change his mind about ending his life. 

'I don't want to die but I don't want to be homeless more than I don't want to die,' he told City News. 'It's not my first choice.'

Amir had been surviving off of social services, but the stipend is so low he was left with just $7 daily for food, and next to nothing to pay for rent.

With his chronic back pain - which leaves him debilitated - he said he would likely die on the streets anyways, so he figured he may as well end his life the easy way.

Amir felt like 'the condemned guy who was waiting for his hour' when he got a call from a Toronto reporter who reached out for an interview

He told Liz (pictured) that he made it clear to medical professionals that his choice was driven by his housing situation

'I know, in my present health condition, I wouldn't survive it anyway. It wouldn't be at all dignified waiting, so if that becomes my two options, it's pretty much a no-brainer,' he told the outlet.

Amir's back pain started after an accident several years ago left him incapable of carrying out a normal life. He said day-to-day was 'awful, non-existent and terrible. I do nothing other than manage pain.'   

He said despite his pain, if he had an affordable and dependable place to live he wouldn't 'even be close to it yet' to considering euthanasia. 

'It would be on my radar because my physical condition is only going to get worse,' he told City News. 

'At that point, I would be probably availing myself of the option, but that would be presumably years down the road.'

MAID was first legalised in Canada in 2016 with the intention of providing an option for people for whom death was unavoidable and foreseeable.

In spring of 2022 it was expanded to include people who were living with debilitating disabilities or pain, even if their lives were not immediately at risk.

Before he was saved, Amir said he was scared of dying. 'Who isn't? Yeah, I am. Who wouldn't be?' he told City News in October 2022.

He said it was 'horrible' and 'backwards' that people like him need to consider suicide because their social services cannot provide for them.

'I think it's horrible, whether it's ethical or not, but I think it's backwards,' he said. 'I think in a country such as ours, people shouldn't be hungry and shouldn't be worried about whether there's a roof over their head.'

Amir's back pain started after an accident several years ago left him incapable of carrying out a normal life

'I think we actually have the wherewithal for that not to be an issue and that we are choosing to not help the most vulnerable members of the society is tragic.'

But after Amir's story made headlines, an anonymous woman named Effy set up a GoFundMe for him. The $60,000 was enough to put a roof over his head and change his mind over ending his life.

'I'm a different person,' Amir said in a later conversation with the outlet. 'The first time we spoke, I had nothing but darkness, misery, stress and hopelessness. Now I have all the opposite of those things.'

Liz travelled to Canada for the insightful documentary, as well as speaking to other activists and medical professionals on the topic. 

The Silent Witness actress has also claimed that 'as long as there's inequality, it is not safe to legalise' assisted suicide in the UK - after revealing how disabled people are told 'surely it's better to be dead than be you?'.

Laws in the UK currently prevent people from asking for medical help to die and Liz has been a vocal opponent of assisted dying for more than a decade.

Liz suffers from rare genetic condition arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, a condition that affects the joints and muscles, and has been a wheelchair user after falling ill aged seven.

The actress and disability rights campaigner is fronting a new BBC documentary titled Better off Dead? airing on Tuesday, which explores the legalisation of assisted dying and its potential effect on vulnerable or disabled people

The 52-year-old actress is known for playing forensic examiner Clarissa Mullery in BBC crime drama Silent Witness (pictured)

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Woman’s Hour on Thursday, she claimed 'as long as there's inequality, it is not safe to legalise' assisted suicide, adding: 'No amount of safeguards will prevent us from mistakes and abuse and coercion, that's my belief.'

She told the programme: 'On an everyday basis, disabled people are dealing with a lower expectation and people actually saying to their faces: "Gosh, surely it's better to be dead than be you?"

'That happens. It's shocking. So I wanted that to be the starting point and then let's unravel why that is and how that leads to my fear of legalising assisted suicide.'

The British actress added that 'of course we don't want [a person at the end of their life] to suffer'.

She continued: 'The problem is, actually, a lot of disabled people do suffer. But what they suffer from are the barriers and the obstacles, the fact they have to fight for support, the fact their isn't social care, the fact of attitudes, the fact of lack of access to so many things.

'You know, we do suffer. So don't then make it legal to end that suffering through assisted suicide, that's the fear.'

The actress revealed how she's treated more positively by people who know her as a famous face, compared to those who don't recognise her.

She explained: 'From my gaze, from somebody who lives in a world where, you know, if I'm recognised in the street, then people are giddy and excited and it's wonderful.

'If I'm not recognised in the street, then I'm ignored or sometimes I'm glanced at as I'm just trouble and I'm a problem and: "Oh god, have we got to get the ramp out? Ugh." I'm just a pain.

'So that difference shows me that oftentimes I think disabled people are just tolerated and I think that's the same with ill people and older people, and I think all those groups would be affected by these laws. 

'As long as there's that inequality, it is not safe to legalise... no amount of safeguards will prevent us from mistakes and abuse and coercion, that's my belief.'

The 52-year-old actress is known for playing forensic examiner Clarissa Mullery in BBC crime drama Silent Witness.

She also joined season two of dark fantasy Netflix series The Witcher starring Superman actor Henry Cavill, as well as BBC NHS comedy drama This Is Going To Hurt and Amazon supernatural series Good Omens alongside David Tennant and Michael Sheen.

Liz won a gong at the 2022 Olivier awards for her supporting role as polio survivor and physician Dr Emma Brookner in The Normal Heart, a play about the HIV/Aids epidemic in the 1980s.

BBC's documentary titled Better off Dead? is airing on Tuesday, May 14 at 9pm