Ruth Institute Blog

Bill 52, which defines euthanasia as palliative care and proposes adding it to end-of-life decision-making options, could be voted on later this month by the Quebec Legislative Assembly. And the Supreme Court of Canada has just given leave to appeal the Carter case, which involves a challenge to the constitutionality of the Criminal Code’s prohibition of assisted suicide.

Much ink has already been spilled on the pro– and anti-euthanasia arguments relevant to these initiatives, but there has been little discussion in the public square on the content of the “life concepts” that are informing this debate.

Justice Lynn Smith, the trial judge in the Carter case in the British Columbia Supreme Court, refers to seven of them: the right to life; respect for life; preservation of life; protection of life; sanctity of life; inviolability of life; and quality of life. These concepts are all related and some are often used interchangeably, but insights can be gained by examining her approach to each of them and their interaction with individuals’ right to autonomy.

Protecting and preserving life concern conduct in which we either must or must not engage. Sanctity of life and respect for it express our individual and societal values regarding life. Inviolability of life can mean all of these concepts, collectively, and establish them as absolute, that is, there are no exceptions.

In contrast, quality of life is used as a justification for exceptions both to the conduct these concepts require and to these values. The right to life upholds the individual’s claim to have his life protected and respected.

Justice Smith, however, converts the right to life, in section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to a right to assisted suicide. She rules the Criminal Code’s prohibition of assisted suicide “affects [Ms. Taylor’s] right to life because it may shorten her life. Ms. Taylor’s reduced lifespan would occur if she concludes that she needs to take her own life while she is still physically able to do so, at an earlier date than she would find necessary if she could be assisted.” (Italics used in all quotations to identify these concepts as mine.) On this basis, and that of discrimination against disabled people unable to commit suicide without assistance, she finds the prohibition unconstitutional.

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