A questionnaire is now online inviting Canadian citizens to express their point of view freely on the topic of medically assisted dying. This initiative follows on from the creation by the Federal Government of an external committee responsible for collecting all information on medically assisted dying and how Canadians view assisted suicide.
The work carried out by the external committee will shed light on the choices made by the Federal Government, which must give a legislative response to the decision of the Canadian Supreme Court in the Carter case. In the latter, the Court deemed that it was unconstitutional “to prevent anyone, including physicians, from assisting a consenting person to die”.
The Court declared that it was up to Parliament to draft legislation on medically assisted dying and ordered that “the provisions of the Criminal Code be followed up until 6 February 2016 when Parliament responds and drafts the conditions and circumstances under which medically assisted dying should be allowed in Canada” (See Gènéthique 20.07.2015).
TVA Nouvelles (28/08/2015)