Source: http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/ad-am/p4.html
Timestamp: 2017-03-25 01:53:34
Document Index: 101399309

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 4', 'art 4', 'art 3', 'art 4', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'arts 2']

Part 4 - Legislative Background: Medical Assistance in Dying / Part 4 - Statement of Potential Charter Impacts
Part 3 - Relation to Quebec’s Law
Specifically, and in addition to criteria requiring that the patient be at “end of life” and suffering unbearably, they recommended that the patient be “in an advanced state of weakening capacities, with no chance of improvement”. Justice Smith of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, who presided over the Carter case at trial, expressly adopted this criterion, referencing the Select Committee’s report, when she ruled that “the reference to ‘grievously and irremediably ill persons’ should be limited to those who are also in an advanced state of weakening capacities, with no chance of improvement.”Footnote 54 The Select Committee’s recommendations were ultimately adopted into Bill 52, which was introduced in the National Assembly in June 2013, and was adopted in June 2014. In general, the eligibility criteria in the proposed federal legislation would be similar to those under Quebec’s An Act Respecting End-of-Life Care.Footnote 55 On the one hand, the criminal legislation is intended to be broader in terms of the temporal connection between the person’s medical condition and the anticipated timing of their deaths; Quebec’s law requires that the patient be “at the end of life”, whereas the criminal legislation uses the term “death has become reasonably foreseeable”, which is a more familiar legal concept, and possibly more flexible, in that it does not require a specific prognosis as to the length of time that the person has left to live. On the other hand, the Quebec legislation does not expressly require that the unbearable suffering be caused by the person’s medical condition, whereas the proposed criminal legislation does. It should also be noted that the Criminal Code amendments would allow both assisted suicide and what is commonly called voluntary euthanasia, while Quebec’s law only permits the latter. Part 4 - Statement of Potential Charter Impacts
The Minister of Justice has reviewed this Bill for compliance with the Constitution, including the Charter pursuant to her obligations under section 4.1 of the Department of Justice Act. This review included consideration of, amongst other things, the objectives and features of the Bill as described above in Part 1, the social science evidence and legislative, governmental and consultative reports referred to in Part 1, the evidence of other jurisdictions’ approaches to and experiences with medical assistance in dying discussed in Parts 2 and 3, and the views and findings of the courts in Carter, including the Supreme Court of Canada.
The following non-exhaustive list of potential impacts on the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Charter is presented to assist in informing the public and Parliamentary debate, and consequently to better enable the dialogue between Parliament and the courts
section 7 of the Charter, which protects against deprivations of life, liberty or security of the person that do not accord with the principles of fundamental justice, and; subsection 15(1) of the Charter, which protects against discrimination on numerous grounds, including disability.
The right to equality could also be impacted if restricting access to end-of-life situations is viewed as treating people differently on the basis of their distinct disabilities, diseases or illnesses. For example, a person who is suffering intolerably from a particular disease that does not make death reasonably foreseeable, will be treated differently in terms of access from persons whose intolerable suffering derives from a different disease that does make death reasonably foreseeable.The restriction may also be viewed as treating people whose disabilities may make it effectively impossible to die by suicide without assistance differently from individuals who are able to take their own lives without the criminal law standing in the way.
Rationale: Restricting access to only those individuals whose death is reasonably foreseeable allows them to choose a peaceful, medically assisted death where their medical circumstances are such that the dying process would otherwise be painful, distressing, frightening, prolonged or otherwise lacking dignity from their perspective. This approach respects autonomy during the passage to death, while otherwise prioritizing respect for human life and the equality of all people regardless of illness, disability or age. It also furthers the objective of suicide prevention and the protection of the vulnerable.Recognizing the complexity of the legal and social issues associated with medical assistance in dying, this approach strikes an appropriate balance between the competing rights, interests and values. This last consideration also applies to the other potential impacts discussed below.
Restricted to "Competent" Adults (no advance directives) Restricting access to competent adults precludes the possibility of a person arranging medical assistance in dying by advance directive, which could impact the section 7 rights to life, liberty, and security of the person, and the subsection 15(1) right to equality.
Equality rights under subsection15(1) could also be impacted because persons whose disability, disease or illness cause them intolerable suffering and deprive them of the capacity to consent would not be able to access medical assistance in dying in the same circumstances as those whose disability, disease or illness do not deprive them of that capacity. Rationale: Advance directives generally do not provide reliable evidence of a person’s consent at the time that medical assistance in dying would be provided. The requirement that a person be capable of consent at the time of the request for assistance provides better protection for vulnerable individuals, in particular when their present state of mind and/or suffering cannot be conclusively determined. It also guards against the effects of inaccurate assumptions about the quality and value of life in certain circumstances.
Healthcare Providers’ Religious Beliefs and Conscience
Excessive Burden of Safeguards unduly Limiting Accessibility
Witness Requirements The requirement that individuals seeking medical assistance in dying have two witnesses to their signed, written request, could impact the right to privacy protected by section 8 of the Charter. In some circumstances, individuals may be obliged by this requirement to disclose their intention to end their lives to individuals in whom they would otherwise not confide.
Quebec National Assembly, Select Committee on Dying with Dignity, Dying with Dignity Report (March 2012) (Chair: Maryse Gaudreault), online: <http://www.assnat.qc.ca/Media/Process.aspx?MediaId=ANQ.Vigie.Bll. DocumentGenerique_34839en&process=Default&token=ZyMoxNwUn8ikQ+TRKYwPCjWrKwg+vIv9rjij7p3xLGTZDmLVSmJLoqe/vG7/YWzz >.
Bill 52, An Act Respecting End-of-Life Care, 1st Sess, 14th Leg, Quebec, 2013 (assented to June 10, 2014), RSQ c S-32.0001, s. 26.
Date modified: 2017-01-19 Section menu