Assisted Suicide in Canada

THE SUPREME COURT OF CANADA’S (SCC) decision in Carter v Canada (“Carter”) was a landmark moment in Canadian jurisprudence. In Carter, the SCC declared two sections of the Criminal Code to be of no force and effect because the “prohibition on physician assisted dying...deprives a competent adult of such assistance where (1) the person affected clearly consents to the termination of life; and (2) the person has a grievous and irredeemable medical condition...that causes enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual.” Not only did Carter overturn an earlier decision in Rodriguez v British Columbia (Attorney General) (“Rodriguez”), which had upheld prohibitions on medical assistance in dying (MAID), but Carter was also instrumental in two other aspects of Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (“Charter”) jurisprudence

Charter · Criminal Code · Criminal law · Criminology · Jurisprudence · Political science · Sociology · Supreme court · Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies · Law