By Faye Sonier Parliament clearly expressed its will in 2010 when Members of Parliament voted resoundingly against a bill which sought to decriminalize euthanasia and assisted suicide. The Supreme Court of Canada plainly ruled against the practices in the 1993 Rodriguez case, in which it found Parliament’s jurisdiction and legislation in this area to be… Read More
By Don Hutchinson “People who are ruled by their desires think only of themselves.” Thinking about some of the headline news stories of the past few days, I found myself reflecting on this translation of these words penned by Paul of Tarsus in a letter he wrote to friends in Rome nearly two thousand years… Read More
By Don Hutchinson This past Monday, December 10, I was in the Supreme Court of Canada standing with the family of a man fighting for his right to life – and in that battle the lives of many other Canadians. It was an honour to hear words of appreciation from Hassan Rasouli’s daughter, noting that… Read More
By Faye Sonier On Thursday, September 29, 2011, Harold Albrecht rose to his feet in the House of Commons to introduce Bill C-300, an initiative for the prevention of suicide in Canada that seems long overdue for consideration by Canada’s Parliament. Albrecht, the Member of Parliament for Kitchener-Conestoga, has long had end of life issues… Read More
The Canadian population is aging. Boomers are concerned about their end-of-life care and a seemingly ceaseless stream of horrific accounts of elder abuse is being proliferated through the media. A 2010 Ekos Research poll revealed that 9 in 10 Canadians are familiar with the term ‘elder abuse’. Canadians are growing older – often facing health… Read More
It’s a troubling trend, inspired by Evangelical Christians. A judge of the British Columbia Supreme Court has agreed to fast track the lawsuit of Gloria Taylor, who suffers from ALS and is seeking to have a doctor assist her in ending her life. What’s troubling is that the House of Commons has defeated proposed legislation… Read More
“Can a Christian vote for a candidate who is not pro-life?” This question has been put to me repeatedly in regard to the current federal election. In one media interview – where my position was not reported in the final article that was published – the reporter asked the question several times, rephrasing it as… Read More
By Guest Blogger, Elisabeth Fallon, CFPL Intern A highly controversial but captivating spokesperson for euthanasia and assisted suicide, Dr. Philip Nitschke has been at the centre of contentious end-of-life choice debates and has provoked international resistance not only in his native Australia, but in New Zealand, the UK, US and Canada. Defending that he offers the… Read More
Good news appears to be flowing from Le Droit this week! In an article entitled “Euthanasie: Ottawa n’entend pas assouplir ses règles “, or roughly translated “Euthanasia: Ottawa doesn’t intend to soften up the rules”, it was made clear that the Harper government has no intentions of decriminalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide. Federal Justice Minister Rob… Read More
I was delighted, absolutely delighted this morning when I was reading Le Droit and came across the article entitled ‘Bolduc veut de meilleurs soins palliatifs’. In Shakespeare’s language, Bolduc wants better palliative care services. On the first day of hearings of the Quebec National Assembly’s Commission on Euthanasia, Minister of Health and Social Services Yves… Read More