e-562 (Medical assistance in dying)

Petition to the Government of Canada

• On February 6, 2015, in Carter v. Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled that competent and consenting adults who have a grievous and irremediable medical condition that causes them enduring and intolerable suffering should have access to assisted death;
• The clear implication of this unanimous ruling is that, according to our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, *all* those competent and consenting adults who have a grievous and irremediable medical condition that causes them enduring and intolerable suffering should have access to assisted death;
• Bill C-14, passed by Parliament on June 17, 2016, entailed changes in the Criminal Code of Canada that included the new clause 241.2(2)(d), adding a further restriction on eligibility for assisted death, namely that natural death must be “reasonably foreseeable,” thereby arbitrarily limiting access to assisted death to those already dying; and
• Correction of this legislative misstep (which constitutional experts have deemed as inevitable) through another Court challenge will be costly and will not come soon enough to help many Canadians who legitimately seek the relief of suffering, through assistance in dying, as already prescribed by the Supreme Court of Canada.