Advocates on both sides unhappy Justice MinisterJody Wilson-Raybould (left )and Health Minister Jane Philpott (right). On April 14, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and Health Minister Jane Philpott, held a press conference in Ottawa to announce the contents of the government’s proposed “medical assistance in dying” bill, C-14. The bill, formerly known as “An Act to amend the Criminal Code and [...]
The government introduced its assisted-suicide legislation, C-14, and immediately made both sides unhappy. The pro-life and disabilities communities are concerned that doctors are going to become assassins, abandoning their mission to heal in order to kill. The pro-euthanasia side does not like that there are restrictions on who can be killed, wanting a broader law with fewer restrictions. National Post columnist Robyn [...]
“The federal government casts a wide net in its list of lives that are not worth living, including people with a serious and incurable disease, condition or disability, those losing autonomy and those with persistent physical or psychological suffering Aubert Martin of Living with Dignity and Catherine Ferrier of Physicians’ Alliance against Euthanasia “How dare we ask our doctors and nurses to [...]
Right to Die Society of Canada founder Hofsess admitted in an article published after taking his own life in Switzerland that he killed eight Canadians including the poet Al Purdy. Canadian right-to-die activist John Hofsess, who was euthanized in a Swiss clinic on Feb. 29 at age 78, confessed posthumously in an article published by Toronto Life that he killed [...]
National Affairs Rory Leishman What do Church leaders in Canada think about the legalization of physician-assisted death (PAD)? Not so long ago, the answer was clear. At Christmas in 1996, the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC), a group which includes every major Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant denomination in the country, issued a Statement of Convergence of Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide [...]
MP Harold Albrecht calls for notwithstanding clause to allow for more discussion On Feb. 25, the Report of the Special Joint Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying was submitted to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and it is expected to form the basis of the legislation the government will propose governing euthanasia and assisted-suicide. The report of the committee did not reflect the view of [...]
We are a newspaper so mostly we offer news and commentary on current events. Predicting the future is obviously speculative, but for those who wonder what euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide might be like in a decade-and-a-half, look no further than the Report of the Special Joint Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s hand-chosen panel of MPs and senators spent much [...]
The Canadian Association of Retired Persons, Canada’s largest organization for seniors, dismissed Susan Eng, executive vice-president of advocacy at CARP Canada for the past eight years, apparently because she was “insubordinate,” but more likely because she did not toe the now officially pro-euthanasia position of the organization. CARP is run by media magnate Moses Znaimer, a founding patron of Dying with Dignity [...]
Cardinal Thomas Collins Editor’s Note: On Feb. 3, Cardinal Thomas Collins of the Archdiocese of Toronto, made the following presentation to Special Joint Committee on Physician-assisted Dying on behalf of Coalition for HealthCARE and Conscience. We were brought together by a common mission: to respect the sanctity of human life, which is a gift of God; to protect the vulnerable; [...]
Christian doctors opposed to assisted suicide or euthanasia must refer suicidal patients to doctors willing to kill them under a controversial policy ratified Jan. 26 by the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons’ governing council. One critic calls the decision a “rubber stamp” while a spokesman for Christian and other pro-life doctors says his clients will sue the College for violating doctors’ [...]
Catherine Ferrier of Living with Dignity condemns assisted-suicide being treated "an additional option' for patients. A Quebec regional health agency has blandly announced what is believed to be the province’s first officially approved euthanization of a patient, but the news came in a manner that critics warn both trivializes homicide and bodes ill for the safety of vulnerable patients. “There [...]
The Supreme Court of Canada has granted the government another four months to come up with a law on euthanasia and assisted-suicide, after Parliament failed to pass a new law within the original one year window it was given. During the Court’s hearing, Justice Russell Brown asked the justice department lawyers why, if the new Trudeau government needed more time to craft [...]
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition executive director Alex Schadenberg says it is not possible to develop an effective law on assisted-suicide in four months. On Jan. 15, the Supreme Court of Canada granted the federal government a four-month extension to pass a law on the issues of euthanasia and assisted suicide. On Feb. 6, 2015, the Supreme Court struck down Canada’s assisted [...]
The Liberal government has asked the Supreme Court of Canada for an extension beyond the Feb. 6 deadline to come up with a new federal law on euthanasia and assisted-suicide.When the Court threw out the Criminal Code prohibitions on aiding and abetting a suicide, it stayed the decision for one year so the government could create a new law regulating assisted-suicide. With [...]
On Dec. 1, the Quebec Superior Court ruled that the province’s euthanasia law was inoperable until February because it was in conflict with the existing Criminal Code of Canada prohibitions on homicide. On Dec. 9, the Quebec Court of Appeal granted permission for the province to appeal the decision, but did not indicate whether it was staying the Superior Court’s decision. On [...]