X-Message-Number: 4692 From: (Brian Wowk) Newsgroups: sci.cryonics Subject: Re: Keeling over in Canada. Date: 29 Jul 1995 22:05:57 GMT Message-ID: <3vebc5$> References: <> In <> Trayling Greg <traylin> writes: >Baring accidents, I'm not in any rush, but I was wondering what, if any, >problems there are in signing up for suspension in the U.S. and being a >Canadian citizen? I'm not aware of any programs in Canada and I can imagine >there would be problems in cross-border stiffs. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that you are not alone in Canada! The CryoCare Foundation, Alcor Life Extension Foundation, and American Cryonics Society all have members in Canada. In fact the President of the CryoCare Foundation (me) is a Canadian citizen and resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Secretary of CryoCare, and President of the Cryonics Society of Canada, Ben Best, is also a Canadian and lives in Toronto. Ben holds regular meetings there, and you are certainly within striking distance. You should write Ben ASAP at , as I believe his annual cryonics pool party is being held very soon. There have been two cryonic suspensions in Canada within the past four years. The first occured with the cooperation of a major hospital, and went very smoothly. The second involved a patient in BC (where the sale of cryonics is illegal), and occured under very poor conditions, in part because the already-deceased patient had to be moved to another province for the procedure to commence. Both Ben Best and I are trained cryopreservation transport technicians, and I possess a transport kit (containing stabilizing medications and other equipment) that was provided by Alcor (dating back to the days when I was Alcor's transport coordinator for Canada). This peculiar situation is exemplary of the kind of cooperation that exists among the major organizations in providing cryonics service to Canadians. However, in my admittedly-biased opinion, I think as a Canadian you can expect the best service from CryoCare because of our comparatively large activist membership up here. The bad news is that some serious problems with Canada Immigration occured during the last cryopreservation up here earlier this year. Contrary to one poster's reply to you, the problem with cryonics in Canada right now is not getting the bodies out, but *getting cryonics experts in* to do the procedure. NAFTA has created a nightmare of red-tape for cryonics professionals who need to get into Canada on short notice. The problem is being actively investigated, and the solution we at CryoCare will be implementing is the formation of a Canadian corporate subsidiary of CryoCare ("CryoCare Canada"). It still remains to be decided whether provincial or federal incorporation will be most advantageous. Although you sound young and healthy, I would nevertheless encourage you to pursue membership in a cryonics organization NOW. (Or at least seriously investigate it, subscribe to newsletters etc.) Shit happens, and you never know when you might become uninsurable or have some other calamity befall you. (Although mean lifespans are near 80 years now, there is an awful large standard deviation attached to that number.) Besides, your support and contributions to our growth today will help ensure we are large and strong when you need us tomorrow. Brian Wowk President, CryoCare Foundation P.S. If you privately email me your snail mail address, I see to it that you are sent some information. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4692