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