Webinar Series 2020
Sunday March 8, 2020 – 3 pm EST
Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) Legislation
In June 2016, the Parliament of Canada passed federal legislation Bill C-14, allowing eligible Canadian adults to request medical assistance in dying. Since MAID has been legalized, more than 6,700 Canadians have chosen to die peacefully with the help of a physician or nurse practitioner.
On September 11, 2019, the Superior Court of Québec found that it was unconstitutional to limit access to MAID to people nearing the end of life. The Court declared the “reasonable foreseeability of natural death” criterion in the federal Criminal Code, as well as the “end-of-life” criterion in Quebec’s provincial law on medical assistance in dying, to be unconstitutional.
The Court’s ruling will come into effect on March 11, 2020, unless an extension is granted by the Court. While this ruling only applies in the province of Quebec, the Government of Canada has accepted the ruling and has committed to changing the MAID law for the whole country.
Shanaaz Gokool, former CEO of Dying With Dignity Canada and one of the country’s foremost subject matter experts on MAID will be providing insight on the current legislation and the status of accessing medical assistance in dying across Canada. Join us to learn more about the law and what it means for your right to a peaceful death.
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Humanism is a philosophy or life-stance based upon a profound respect for human dignity and the conviction that we are all ultimately accountable to ourselves and to society for our actions. Our worldview is deity-free and affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical and meaningful lives without the reliance upon a belief in the supernatural.
As Humanists, we believe that reason and science are the best ways to understand the world around us. And we believe that dignity and compassion should be the basis for how we act towards others.
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Founded in 1968, Humanist Canada has its roots in the former Humanist Fellowship of Montreal. This fellowship was an organization of humanists that was founded in 1954 by Drs. R. K. Mishra, Ernest Poser, and Maria Jutta Cahn. Lord Bertrand Russell and Dr. Brock Chisholm were its first patrons.
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