I recently read a national post article by Dr. Will Johnston. In addition to being a family physician, Dr. Johnston is an anti-euthanasia activist. His article suggests that members of the judiciary would be better positioned to judge whether or not a person is competent to make a life-ending decision than members of the medical profession. I believe there is merit to Dr. Johnston’s point but I do not know if the model Dr. Johnston is proposing would be an appropriate one. Members of the judiciary may have similar issues in making competency. This is because, for the most part, . . . [more]

In the last couple of weeks, two laws with contentious moral underpinnings have made headlines. The first is Ottawa’s proposed prostitution laws that criminalize the purchase of sexual services and much of the communication, including advertising, which surrounds it. The other is Quebec’s law legalizing physician-assisted dying, adopted following a free vote with support from all parties in the National Assembly. Both laws raise serious concerns as to their constitutionality and raise an important point about law-making in Canada today: Are our elected lawmakers doing their constitutional due diligence?

Bill-36 was the federal government’s response to last year’s Bedford decision, . . . [more]

The Quebec National Assembly has adopted a historic “right-to-die” legislation (94-22 margin/0 Abstention), the first in Canada. All 22 votes against Bill 52 were from Liberal members, including 10 cabinet ministers. The Bill gives terminally ill adult patients in the province of Quebec, who are of sound mind, the right to palliative care and medical assistance to die in exceptional circumstances and safeguards.

On May 22, 2014, with the approval of all four of Quebec’s major political parties, the newly elected Liberal government re-introduced Bill 52, An Act respecting end-of-life care at the same stage as before the election.

On one Sunday each month we bring you a summary from Supreme Advocacy LLP of recent decisions at the Supreme Court of Canada. Supreme Advocacy LLP offers a weekly electronic newsletter, SupremeAdvocacyLett@r, to which you may subscribe.

Summary of all appeals and leaves to appeal granted (so you know what the S.C.C. will soon be dealing with). For leaves, both the date the S.C.C. granted leave and the date of the C.A. judgment below are added in, in case you want to track and check out the C.A. judgment. (Dec. 14 – Jan. 16, 2014 inclusive).

APPEALS

Copyright: Compensatory . . . [more]

The Quebec government has followed up on its plans to legalize doctor-assisted suicide. On June 12, 2013, the government tabled in the National Assembly Bill 52, An Act respecting end-of-life care, which besides its main goal of ensuring that end-of-life patients are provided with care “that is respectful of their dignity and their autonomy,” establishes specific requirements for certain types of medical assistance to die.

Legal philosopher and public intellectual died yesterday: February 14, 2013. He was 81.

It’s fitting that leading U.K. – the Guardian – and U.S. – the N.Y. Times – obituaries present different pictures of him, even to the extent of seemingly disagreeing on which of his books and other writing was the most important and on his significance in the world of legal and moral philosophy.

For example, the central paragraphs about his legal philosophy in the Guardian’s obituary are:

His books were immensely influential, especially in US law schools. He published many articles both in technical law journals and

. . . [more]

The Quebec government has decided that in the spring of 2013, they will table proposed legislation to legalize doctor-assisted suicide.

Following our previous Slaw post, were we commented on the June 15 British Columbia Supreme Court ruling that struck down the Criminal Code ban on physician-assisted suicide. Without being surprised, on July 14, 2012, we learn that the federal government has decided to appeal that decision.

While this debate has already spanned many years now, this past week alone, the topic of assisted-suicide in Canada has been explored once more with the BC ruling discussed in this blog posting.

At this very moment, in the UK, this very same debate is ongoing, as the high court in London is currently hearing a case on assisted dying. Mr. Tony Nicklinson, who has suffered from locked-in syndrome since 2005, and his lawyer are arguing that the common law defence of necessity should be extended to doctors who assist individuals in cases of assisted suicide. At the moment, . . . [more]

On Friday June 15, 2012, the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled that the Criminal Code of Canada provisions prohibiting physician-assisted dying unjustifiably infringe the equality rights of Gloria Taylor and the rights to life, liberty and security of the person of Gloria Taylor, Lee Carter and Hollis Johnson.

Here are the three most-consulted English-language cases on CanLII for the week of December 13 – 19.

♨ 1. Ontario Korean Businessmen’s Assoc. v. Seung Jin Oh 2011 ONSC 6991 —for the third week in a row.

♨ 2. Combined Air Mechanical Services Inc. v. Flesch 2011 ONCA 764—for the second week in a row.

♨ 3. Morabito v. DiLorenzo 2011 ONSC 7379—700 views since release on December 12.

[1] The defendants move for an order to compel the plaintiff Jeffery Morabito to produce the contents of his Facebook and MySpace pages.

The rest

Significant SCC decisions came . . . [more]