Assisted Suicide In Canada

We should fundamentally care Canadians are living longer. The number of Canadians over the age of 80 has continually increased to the point where, in 2011, 1.3 million Canadians were over the age of 80, the largest proportion of the population in Canadian history. Also, Canada in the near future will have one of the oldest populations in the world, and this will have a detrimental effect on our federal health care budget, which is already a financial issue. But the number of years the average Canadian lives without facing chronic, debilitating and terminal illnesses peaked in 1994. And it’s been decreasing ever since. As incidence of disease quashing quality of life in Canadians increases, so does the likelihood that decisions regarding assisted …show more content…
On the other hand, Canada’s Criminal Code still outlaws assisted suicide. But those have faced challenges from provincial and federal jurisdictions. The Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled the legal prohibition of assisted suicide was an unconstitutional infringement on the rights of Gloria Taylor, who suffered from Lou Gehrig’s disease. The decision was appealed by the federal government.
In Quebec, legislation has already passed these summer absolving physicians who assist their patients in taking their own lives. Once again, Ottawa’s Conservative government will like demand prosecution. But provincial prosecutors will be under no obligation.
Which means assisted suicide became a federal issue. Which means the decision comes back to us to better understand the issues on both sides of the assisted suicide issue, every citizen should seek and demand more information since this is such a vital issue, yet there has not been a public disclosure about how will this go in affect with the needed details within the next year when it is legalized.
Barriers facing the legalization of …show more content…
The most relevant section of the Criminal Code is Section 14 “No person is entitled to consent to have death inflicted on him, and such consent does not affect the criminal responsibility of any person by whom death may be inflicted on the person by whom consent is given.” Prosecution of euthanasia might be construed as appropriate for a charge of first degree murder because intent is clear and premeditated, but the prosecution of euthanasia has proceeded in that manner. However, prosecution rarely takes this path in practice. The intention to relieve suffering, diversities of beliefs among jurists, and frequent difficulties in determining the exact cause of death in terminal patients who often use pain medication, mediate the views of the courts in many cases. However, Canada has instead prosecuted cases of euthanasia with charges ranging from the administration of a noxious substance to manslaughter, to murder. Under section 241 of the Criminal Code, it is an offence to counsel or to aid suicide, although suicide itself is no longer an offence. “Everyone who counsels a person to commit suicide, or aids or abets a person to commit suicide, whether suicide ensues or not, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.” (Criminal Code 241). But recently the Supreme Court of Canada came to a decision to make voluntary euthanasia legal starting

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