Reprinted with permission from the Sep/Oct issue of Faith Today. Well, that didn’t take long. Weeks after the government passed its law on assisted suicide, a legal challenge has already been launched to try to widen its availability. Currently, hastened death is only legal for people whose deaths are “reasonably foreseeable,” which basically means terminally… Read More
→anglais/English Publié à l’origine comme «Do No Harm» dans le numéro de juillet/août 2016 de Faith Today. Réédité par permission. Traduction par François Godbout (Traductions Intersect Translations). Imaginez avoir, depuis votre enfance, une passion pour aider les gens à guérir – un don, pourrait-on dire, pour guérir. Vous êtes fasciné par la médecine et le… Read More
→français/French Originally published as “Do No Harm” in the Jul/Aug 2016 issue of Faith Today. Republished by permission. Imagine growing up with a passion for helping people get well – a gift of healing, some might call it. You are fascinated by medicine and helping people live well. We all know someone like that –… Read More
Now that the law has changed, people in our communities are asking for assisted death. Although the federal government hasn’t put in place regulations on collecting the statistics yet, the media reports that in Quebec there have been about 12 assisted deaths per month since provincial legislation was passed last December. Canada truly has crossed… Read More
Reprinted with permission from the May/Jun 2016 issue of Faith Today. We are immersed in a vigorous debate in Canada about how we respond to the pain and suffering of our neighbours, and how we collectively care for people who are walking, as Psalm 23 puts it, in the shadow of death. We have made… Read More
“We are honestly surprised that we have not heard more feedback from constituents on this issue, since a parliamentary report on this very subject was released earlier this week.” This statement came from an MP’s office, in response to an email from a constituent about euthanasia and assisted suicide. Right now, the federal government is… Read More
The Supreme Court decided Canada’s laws on physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia need changing, and now it’s time for Parliament to weigh in – but will our parliamentarians have the time they need? I was in the Supreme Court yesterday (January 11, 2016), when the federal government made its pitch to keep the old laws in… Read More
We don’t allow children to drive, vote or drink alcohol before certain legal ages, not because we want to arbitrarily restrict the actions of young people, but because it has long been accepted that there are developmental considerations to our ability to handle certain responsibilities. Yes, much of the human brain is fully developed by… Read More
I was in a meeting the other day when someone argued the Supreme Court’s decision to allow assisted suicide in certain circumstances was the “law of the land,” and we have no choice but to make it available. Actually there are several options the Federal Government could pursue in response to the ruling in the… Read More
More on this issue, including video, at theEFC.ca/carter The Supreme Court ruled February 6 that the prohibition against physician-assisted suicide is unconstitutional in certain circumstances and has given Parliament 12 months to respond. As the definition of “physician-assisted death” includes the provision or administration of medication that intentionally brings about a person’s death, both assisted… Read More