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Euthanasia

As of June 17, Bill C-14 became law after bouncing back and forth between the Senate and House of Commons. This formally legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada. Although this is a tragic choice, our leaders did so in full knowledge of the consequences and a much better alternative.

ARPA’s Legal and Policy Resources on Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia:

31 May 2019 Ontario’s Highest Court Finds a Way Around Physicians’ Freedom of Conscience and Religion

Posted at 15:53h in Blog, Euthanasia 0 Comments
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Bodes ill for future fundamental freedom cases by John Sikkema Back in 2008, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) issued a new policy entitled “Physicians and the Ontario Human Rights Code.” That policy informed physicians that they should be prepared to “set aside their personal beliefs” in providing healthcare. It warned that the Human Rights Code has no defence for discriminatory refusals of medical services, “even if the refusal is based on the physician’s moral or religious belief.” The policy did not explain how to determine whether a refusal...

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31 Jan 2019 A timeline of ARPA Canada’s engagement on the euthanasia issue

Posted at 12:41h in Euthanasia, Organizational News 0 Comments
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Euthanasia has been a top priority issue for ARPA Canada over the past few years. 2015: ARPA intervened in Carter v. Canada, the landmark Supreme Court case which struck down the prohibition on assisted suicide. 2015: ARPA produced a paper showing the government that their legislative options included affirming a total ban of euthanasia. 2015: ARPA  engaged in direct lobbying on Bill C-14, which amended the Criminal Code to legalize physician-assisted suicide.  The Hill Times recorded ARPA Canada as having the top number of Parliamentary lobby meetings on this...

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28 Jan 2019 CCA report leaves Parliament with many warnings about expanding euthanasia

Posted at 16:20h in Euthanasia 0 Comments
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In December 2018, the Council of Canadian Academies completed a massive report on assisted suicide, and its possible expansion in Canada. Requested by the Ministers of Justice and Health and tabled in Parliament, this report was written “in order to inform a national dialogue among the Canadian public, and between the public and decision makers.” It’s helpful to define terms used in this article. The CCA reports makes consistent reference to “MAID”, which stands for “Medical Assistance in Dying”. We strongly object to this euphemistic term, since it intentionally...

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21 Jan 2019 The push for expanding euthanasia continues: the Lamb case

Posted at 15:23h in Euthanasia, Legal Cases 0 Comments
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The movement to bring euthanasia and assisted suicide to Canada has been ongoing for decades. Despite the official legalization of physician-assisted suicide in June 2016, the movement wants more. While Parliament considers a 2018 report on expanding euthanasia, euthanasia advocates are pushing the boundaries of assisted suicide in a legal challenge in the British Columbia courts. ARPA Canada was an intervenor at the Supreme Court of Canada in the Carter case that ended the previous ban on euthanasia in Canada. We, and many other human rights advocates, pointed out that once the...

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18 Jan 2019 Where is Canada going with euthanasia in 2019?

Posted at 12:04h in Blog, Euthanasia 0 Comments
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There's been several concerning developments relating to euthanasia in Canada in the past few weeks, and one exciting update as it relates to ARPA and a court case on euthanasia. In the video below, André touches on two things: First, ARPA's response to the Council of Canadian Academies report on euthanasia, in relation to expanding it to minors, those with mental disabilities, and for advance care directives Second, the exciting news that ARPA Canada, along with Bethesda Foundation in BC and the Anchor Association in Ontario, have been granted...

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17 Jan 2019 Parliament considers protecting physician conscience rights

Posted at 18:28h in Euthanasia, Fundamental Freedoms 0 Comments
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David Anderson, a Member of Parliament from Saskatchewan, has tabled a bill to protect conscience rights for health care professionals in Canada. This bill comes in response to a distinct lack of conscience protections in the recent change to the law allowing euthanasia. Anderson stated, “I believe it’s time to stand up for doctors and health care providers who aren’t willing to leave their core ethics behind when they’re at a patient’s bedside.” Bill C-418, would make it a criminal offence to intimidate or force a doctor or other health care provider...

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17 Oct 2018 Physicians at SickKids discuss euthanasia for children

Posted at 23:24h in Blog, Euthanasia 0 Comments
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by Daniel Zekveld In 2015, when the Supreme Court struck down the law against euthanasia, it dealt another blow to the dignity of human life. Canadian law now glorifies death as an autonomous choice. As if the list of people eligible to receive death at the hands of doctors was not long enough, Canadians are already discussing extending euthanasia to minors. As if the list of people eligible to receive death at the hands of doctors was not long enough, Canadians are already discussing extending euthanasia to minors. In an essay entitled, “Medical...

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20 Sep 2018 Debate on expanding euthanasia continues, ARPA releases new policy report

Posted at 10:44h in Criminal Justice, Euthanasia 0 Comments
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This fall, Parliament will examine the issue of expanding euthanasia to “mature minors” and to persons with mental illness. Since 2016 (Bill C-14), Canada has permitted anyone who is at least 18, has a grievous and irremediable medical condition, and whose death is reasonably foreseeable, to receive “medical aid in dying” (MAiD). To put it in stark terms, the law now permits medical professionals to kill their adult patients, as long as the patient consents and has the requisite medical conditions. In Spring 2015, ARPA released its first Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia...

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30 Jul 2018 A new assisted suicide court challenge

Posted at 16:02h in Euthanasia, Legal Cases 0 Comments
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Julia Lamb and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) challenged Canada’s new assisted suicide legislation mere days after it was passed in 2016. Julia Lamb has spinal muscular atrophy, a progressive neurodegenerative disease, but she is not eligible for assisted suicide because her death is not “reasonably foreseeable” as required by the current law. The BCCLA asserts on Lamb’s behalf that “the federal government’s new bill leaves many seriously ill Canadians, like Julia, behind.” Lamb argues that by “leaving her behind”, or, in other words, by delaying her death, this...

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03 Jul 2018 Euthanasia Rules Continue to Unravel

Posted at 08:00h in Criminal Justice, Euthanasia, Family 0 Comments
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Peter Stockland (Lighthouse News – July 3, 2018) Two years have gone by since the passage of Bill C-14, the law that legalized euthanasia in Canada. Peter Stockland, the publisher of the Cardus Foundation’s “Convivium” magazine, marked the anniversary with an in-depth article on how the law has evolved since it was first implemented. He says it’s clear that the rules around Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) continue to be relaxed, as evidenced by some new statistics that came out just last week. “There was a 30-percent increase in the number...

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