QUT Global Law, Science and Technology Seminar Series - Episode 2

ONLINE SEMINAR 2: MAiD in Canada: Cautionary Tale or Model?

Abstract

"Canadians are getting medical assistance in dying (MAiD) for poverty.”
“Canada is considering allowing MAiD for severely disabled newborns.”
“We have not witnessed a slippery slope in Canada, we have fallen off a cliff.”

If true, it would be reasonable to think that Canada’s MAiD system is a cautionary tale against decriminalization of assisted dying. But are these statements true?

In this presentation, Professor Jocelyn Downie will describe the legal status of MAiD in Canada – the eligibility criteria and the procedural safeguards in the Criminal Code as well as the provincial/territorial laws and policies and regulatory practice standards. She will also explain what is actually happening in practice — who is requesting MAiD and who is accessing MAiD, what are the reasons for requesting MAiD, and what access to palliative care and disability supports have people who access MAiD had? Finally, the debates that are currently occupying law-makers as we look to the future will be outlined — MAiD for persons with mental disorders as their sole underlying medical condition, MAiD requests made in advance of loss of decision-making capacity, and MAiD for mature minors. The seminar will conclude that, far from being a cautionary tale, Canada is a model for the decriminalization of MAiD. 

Professor Jocelyn Downie
Professor, Faculties of Law and Medicine at Dalhousie University
Adjunct Professor, Queensland University of Technology

Jocelyn Downie is a Professor in the Faculties of Law and Medicine at Dalhousie University (and an Adjunct Professor at QUT). Her work on end-of-life law and policy includes: Special Advisor to the Canadian Senate Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide; author of Dying Justice: A Case for the Decriminalizing Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in Canada (winner of the Abbyann Day Lynch Medal in Bioethics from the Royal Society of Canada); and member of the Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel on End-of-Life Decision-Making, the plaintiffs’ legal team in Carter v. Canada (Attorney General), the Provincial-Territorial Expert Advisory Group on Physician-Assisted Dying, and the Canadian Council of Academies Expert Panel on Medical Assistance in Dying. Most recently, she was on the federal Task Group that developed a Model Practice Standard and Advice to the Profession on MAiD. She was named a member of the Order of Canada in part in recognition of her work advocating for high-quality, end-of-life care. She is also a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.