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 | "Euthanasia and assisted suicide are covert and unregulated in the Canada of today. Also, their accessibility has more to do with 'connections' than with need. They must become available within an open, regulated and equitable system. People who are suffering intolerably from an incurable condition must have an adequate level of information and support with respect to every one of their options — including, though not limited to, the option of a hastened death." The goals of the Right to Die Society of Canada. 1 |
| "The nature of assisted suicide does not allow you to provide protection for vulnerable people. The whole idea is wrong from the beginning. Assisted suicide is a direct threat to those with chronic disabilities and the elderly.....It's an issue of the powerful over the weak. We can't bring in a law that allows you to kill someone." Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition 2 |
| "Whose body is this?" Sue Rodriguez, who suffered from ALS and "...single-handedly catapulted the right to die debate onto the public stage" during 1991. 3 |
Overview:
As in the United States and many other countries, suicide is legal in Canada, but assisted suicide (PAS) is not.
In 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada heard a case brought before it by Sue Rodriguez. 4 Suffering from ALS, and expecting her health to continue to degenerate, she filed a lawsuit seeking the legal right to obtain assistance in committing suicide. In 1993-MAY, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guarantees the security of the person does not include the right to obtain assisted suicide. The vote was narrow: 5 to 4, and resembled the very common vote of the U.S. Supreme Court on moral and ethical matters. According to an article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal: Four
"....judges dissented, finding that Rodriguez was discriminated against on grounds of disability, in violation of the charter, because the option of attempting suicide, legally available to anyone, was not available to her because she was physically unable to commit suicide. The majority (of 5 judges) felt that even if she was discriminated against, the discrimination was deemed to be within the reasonable limits that could be imposed in a free and democratic society." 5
If the case were presented again to the Supreme Court, the 1993 ruling might well be overturned.
A single federal law to enable PAS could be created and would apply throughout the country. Private Members' bills have since been introduced into the Canadian Parliament to legalize PAS. They have all failed.
Past court cases involving assisted suicide:
| 1994: British Columbia: Sue Rodriguez was diagnosed with ALS (a.k.a. Lou Gehrig's disease), was in degenerating health, and sought permission through the courts to allow her to request assistance in committing suicide. She lost both at the British Columbia Supreme Court (in 1992-DEC) and at the Supreme Court of Canada (in 1993-MAY). 3 The Supreme Court decision was by a narrow 5 to 4 vote. She committed suicide on 1994-FEB-12 in the supportive presence of her friend Svend Robinson, an NDP (Socialist) member of parliament. It is not known whether she required assistance in dying. Robinson was never charged with a crime. |
| 1995: Nova Scotia: Mary Jane Fogarty committed suicide by injecting herself with insulin. Her friend, Brenda Barnes, helped Fogarty commit suicide by writing out a suicide note and providing the syringe. Barnes was found guilty and given a suspended sentence. |
| 1997: Saskatchewan: A farmer, Robert Latimer, was tried for the mercy killing of his 12-year-old daughter who was mentally disabled, physically disabled, and in continual severe pain. He was found guilty of second degree murder which, under Canadian law, requires a 10 year minimum jail sentence. The jury recommended that he be eligible for parole after one year. The sentence was appealed through various courts. His request for a reduced sentence was unanimously rejected by the Supreme Court of Canada. This was a case of murder because his daughter was too young to give informed consent, and there is no indication in the media coverage that she had asked for help in dying. |
| 1998: Ontario: Maurice Genereux prescribed barbiturates for two men who were HIV positive. They used the medication to attempt suicide. Genereux was found guilty and sentenced to two years less a day. This was an unusual outcome; in almost all court cases the accused is either found not guilty or is given a suspended sentence. |
| 2000: Ontario: Wayne Hussey tested a gun which his father later used to commit suicide. Hussey was charged, but found not guilty. |
| 2003: British Columbia: Julianna Zsiros showed her housemate how to start a car, and made certain that the garage in which the car was located was airtight. Her housemate started the car in the enclosed space and committed suicide with carbon monoxide. Zsiros was charged, found guilty, and received a suspended sentence. |
| 2004: British Columbia: Evelyn Martens was present during the suicides of Monique Charest and Leyanne Burchell. Martens was charged but found not guilty. |
More information is available at the Right to Die Society of Canada's web site. 1
Public opinion polls:
| 2002-NOV-28: Poll shows majority in favor of physician assisted suicide: A Canadian polling firm, COMPAS, conducted a poll from 2002-NOV-16 to 19, asking Canadians a variety of questions, ranging from abortion access to the legalization of prostitution. Physician assisted suicide is supported by 55% of Canadian adults; it is opposed by 36%. Will Johnston, a Vancouver family physician and co-chair of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition said that he is "appalled by this new evidence" that the public favors assisted suicide. He said: |
"To ask 'should you allow something', no matter what it is, sounds like an appeal to freedom. In this case, the freedom is to be in danger from the medical system instead of to be guaranteed the medical system's best attempt at helping a terminal illness."
Robert Buckman, a University of Toronto medical doctor said that the public is turning to favor mercy killing and will likely reach 80% approval within a decade. He said:
"I think the change in law will happen when it is consistently 80% to 90% of the public who say we want to see this happen and we want it safe and humane." 6
| 2007-JUN-08: Significant majority of terminal cancer patients
favor access to PAS: 379 palliative care cancer patients from St. Johns,
Quebec City, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Kelowna and Vancouver were
individually interviewed between 2001 and 2003. The study was funded by the
Canadian Institutes of Health Research and published in the Health
Psychology journal. Results were:
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Government activity on PAS:
| 1995: The Special Senate Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted
Suicide was created in 1994-FEB "...to examine and report upon the
legal, social and ethical issues relating to euthanasia and assisted suicide."
They issued their final report "Of life and death" on 1995-JUN. They
made a number of recommendations:
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| 1997: Justice Minister Anne McLellan said on NOV-6 that the federal government might change the law to allow reduced sentences for people found guilty of second degree murder, but had no intention of legalizing either euthanasia or assisted suicide. She admitted that she has reneged on a promise by her predecessor to hold a free vote in the House of Commons on physician assisted suicide. | ||||||||||||||||
| 1998: The House of Commons rejected by a vote of 169 to 66 a motion by Svend Robinson (NDP - Burnaby-Douglas) on MAR-25. The motion would have stuck a committee of Members of Parliament to study doctor-assisted suicide. Justice Minister Anne McLellan has said that there is no need for such a study; the Senate conducted a study only three years previously. Robinson intended to introduce a similar private member's bill early in 2001.It will call on the House of Commons to "look at the recent developments in the Netherlands and also to look in depth at the whole issue of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide and make recommendations to Canadian law....In my view, the existing provisions of the criminal law are profoundly unjust and, in some cases, cruel." 9 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2005-JUN: On JUN-15, Member of Parliament
Francine Lalonde of the Bloc Quebecois, a separatist party, introduced Bill
C-407. She said: "This is not euthanasia. This is the right to die with
dignity for the person." The bill would allow a person to obtain help to
commit suicide if:
Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, said: |
"The nature of assisted suicide does not allow you to provide protection for vulnerable people. The whole idea is wrong from the beginning. Assisted suicide is a direct threat to those with chronic disabilities and the elderly. It's an issue of the powerful over the weak. We can't bring in a law that allows you to kill someone." 2
If the bill had included very severe restrictions, as in the case of the Oregon legislation, then it might have had a chance in Parliament. In our opinion, this bill cannot possibly succeed because it is so loosely worded. It would allow any person, even one who is not medically trained, to decide that an individual is lucid, and then help them to die. The person seeking assistance in suicide might be simply depressed and might be helped with counseling, pain medication, and/or antidepressants. Also, the bill would allow anyone to help others to die as long as they are "assisted by a medical practitioner." But it does not define what "assisted" means in terms of the degree of oversight.
| 2005-OCT: Bill C-407 was debated in Parliament on Monday, OCT-30. It did not proceed. |
References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.- The Right-To-Die Society of Canada's web page is at: http://www.righttodie.ca/
- Deborah Gyapong, "Bloc MP tables 'die with dignity' Bill C-407," Canadian Catholic News, at: www.ccrl.ca/
- "Sue Rodriguez and the Right-to-Die debate," CBC Archives, at: http://archives.cbc.ca/
- Sue Rodriguez v. British Columbia (Attorney General) (1993) 3 SCR 519.
- J.V. Lavery & P.A. Singer, "The 'Supremes' decide on assisted suicide: What should a doctor do?," Canadian Medical Association Journal, (1997) 157:405-6. Online at: http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/
- The Right-To-Die Society of Canada has a web page at: http://www.righttodie.ca/
- Anne-Marie Tobin, "Terminal patients favour ending life," The Toronto Star, 2007-JUN-08, Page L7.
- "Of Life and Death - Final Report," The Special Senate Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, 1995-JUN, at: http://www.parl.gc.ca/
- "Euthanasia Legalized in the Netherlands," Holy Bible, 2001-JAN, at: http://www.holybible.com/
- "Canada Supreme Court Sends 'Mercy Killer' to Jail,' Euthanasia.com, 2001-JAN-18, at: http://www.euthanasia.com/.
- "Assisted-suicide cases in Canada," Right to Die Society of Canada, 2004-JAN, at: http://www.righttodie.ca/assistedsuicides-canada.html
- The Right-To-Die Society of Canada's web page is at: http://www.righttodie.ca/
- Deborah Gyapong, "Bloc MP tables 'die with dignity' Bill C-407," Canadian Catholic News, at: www.ccrl.ca/
- "Sue Rodriguez and the Right-to-Die debate," CBC Archives, at: http://archives.cbc.ca/
- Sue Rodriguez v. British Columbia (Attorney General) (1993) 3 SCR 519.
- J.V. Lavery & P.A. Singer, "The 'Supremes' decide on assisted suicide: What should a doctor do?," Canadian Medical Association Journal, (1997) 157:405-6. Online at: http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/
- "Canada Supreme Court Sends 'Mercy Killer' to Jail,' Euthanasia.com, 2001-JAN-18, at: http://www.euthanasia.com/.
- "Assisted-suicide cases in Canada," Right to Die Society of Canada, 2004-JAN, at: http://www.righttodie.ca/assistedsuicides-canada.html
- "Of Life and Death - Final Report," The Special Senate Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, 1995-JUN, at: http://www.parl.gc.ca/
- "Euthanasia Legalized in the Netherlands," Holy Bible, 2001-JAN, at: http://www.holybible.com/
- "Netherlands legalizes euthanasia," Globe and Mail, Toronto ON, 2000-NOV-29, Page A17.
- The Right-To-Die Society of Canada has a web page at: http://www.righttodie.ca/
- Anne-Marie Tobin, "Terminal patients favour ending life," The Toronto Star, 2007-JUN-08, Page L7.
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Copyright © 1999 to 2007, by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2007-JUN-08
Author: B.A. Robinson
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