Ashtyn Prosser, right, died by suicide one month before his 20th birthday. Photo / Tara Walton, The New York Times
Ashtyn Prosser, right, died by suicide one month before his 20th birthday. Photo / Tara Walton, The New York Times
WARNING: This article is about suicide and mental health issues and may be distressing for some readers.
The Canadian police charged Kenneth Law with aiding 14 suicides, including that of Ashtyn Prosser, and 88 other deaths are being reviewed by Britain’s National Crime Agency.
Authorities in Canada and Britain areinvestigating at least 100 deaths as suicides tied to the online businesses of a Canadian man accused of selling a lethal substance.
Kenneth Law, 57, of Mississauga, a city west of Toronto, is accused of operating a group of businesses that shipped about 1,200 packages to people in 40 countries, fulfilling orders placed on his website.
“The Coroners Court has confirmed that it has received reports of deaths which are suspected to be linked to the activities of a Canadian man, who has been charged by Canadian police with counselling and aiding suicide,” a coronial spokeswoman said in a statement.
“The usual Coroners Court inquiry process will be followed in relation to the deaths.”
Canadian authorities have charged him with helping 14 people die by suicide, a number that may grow as investigations into Law’s businesses continue in Canada and Britain.
Kenneth Law is being held at a jail in Ontario. Photo / Peel Regional Police
In Canada, where investigators said Law shipped 160 packages, he has been charged by multiple police agencies in Ontario with counselling or aiding suicide. The victims were between 16 and 36 years old.
Britain is investigating the deaths of 88 of the 272 people in the country who purchased packages from Law’s website, a spokesperson for Britain’s National Crime Agency said in an email.
Law, who has yet to be arraigned, appeared in court Wednesday, where his next hearing was set for October 31. He is being held at a jail in Ontario.
He will plead not guilty, said his lawyer, Matthew Gourlay, who called the case, in an email, a “novel application of the law.”
“We are not aware of any similar prosecution in Canada,” Gourlay said. “Our position is that none of the conduct alleged against Mr Law — which, to be clear, is not admitted — validly comes within the scope of the criminal prohibition.”
The charges against Law come as Canada is debating a recent loosening of its federal assisted suicide law, which has made the country’s policy one of the most liberal in the world. Since 2021, Canada has permitted assisted death for people suffering from a chronic painful condition, even if that condition is not terminal.
Even so, the law requires people who are terminally ill when they apply for assisted death to be assessed by a physician or nurse practitioner and follow other rules before being permitted to die. Those practitioners are exempted from criminal charges of counselling or aiding suicide, which have a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
“Let us be clear that we will not tolerate criminal actions by those who prey on vulnerable individuals in our communities and we will hold those responsible accountable,” Inspector Simon James of the York Regional Police, which was involved in the Canadian investigation, said at a news conference last month.
Kim Prosser often walks the shoreline of Lake Erie thinking about her son Ashtyn. Photo / Tara Walton, The New York Times
Police in Thunder Bay, a city in northwestern Ontario, believe Ashtyn Prosser is among those who purchased products from Law. He died in March, one month before he would turn 20, said his mother, Kim Prosser.
“The one thing that could ever change who I am, at my core, would be losing a child,” said Prosser, who added that her son had struggled with mental health issues during the pandemic.
Her left forearm is decorated with a tattoo of three birds, a drawing by Ashtyn Prosser, who joined her and his brother, Drake, to get the matching tattoos last Christmas.
Authorities in other provinces and countries have joined the sprawling investigation into Law, who they believe had been selling the products online since late 2020.
Police in Montreal announced this month that some packages were sent to addresses in that city, spurring a public appeal by investigators for recipients and others with information to come forward.
In Calgary, in western Canada, authorities are waiting for final toxicology reports involving the investigations of two deaths that could be connected to Law, the city’s police service said. At least six ongoing investigations in British Columbia were triggered by information from other police forces, said Sgt. Kris Clark of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, not specifying if all those cases are related to deaths.
Dr Tyler Hickey, a forensic pathologist who helped detect a cluster of suicides. Photo / Tara Walton, The New York Times
Ireland’s national police force is also investigating after “a small number” of “sudden deaths” were identified during welfare checks to addresses provided by Canadian authorities, Sgt. Sean Mac Seoin, a spokesperson, said in an email.
Law was arrested in May and charged in two cases, and another 12 charges were laid in August. Law worked as a cook at the Fairmont Royal York, a luxury hotel in downtown Toronto, according to his union, Unite Here. Kevin Abels, a union organiser, said Law was terminated by the hotel. The Fairmont has not replied to requests for comment.
The suicides that Law has been charged in connection with took place after late 2020, when police believe he began operating the online businesses.
Police have said the websites used by Law to sell his product were taken down. Prosser believes her son, who loved computers so much that he built his own at 13, sought out online forums to access the substance he used in his death.
Prosser hasn’t followed Law’s criminal case, but she has been at work creating a mental health nonprofit in her son’s memory.
“I don’t blame him for my son’s death. I don’t blame anyone for my son’s death,” she said, tearfully adding: “Is there something I could have done differently or that I could have done more, and that maybe he would still be here? As a parent, I don’t think you can avoid that question ever, and I understand how easy then it would be to jump on board to blame somebody else.”
