Medically assisted death weeks away in Canada.

By freelance contributor Susan Delacourt in Ottawa.

A couple of centuries ago, Benjamin Franklin wrote that death and taxes were the only certain things in this world — perfectly capturing the dual pressures now bearing down on Canada’s new government.

Not only must Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his ministers come up with their first budget by the end of this month, but the Liberal Government is also being forced to produce a law in the next few weeks to permit medically assisted death.

The deadline for an assisted-death law comes from Canada’s Supreme Court, which ruled in January that the country’s parliament had to have legislation passed and in force by June.

By the time the Northern Hemisphere summer rolls around, Canada will join a handful of nations where citizens have recognised legal rights to die with dignity.

Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands currently have that right, as well as citizens in several American states.

Australia has no such law, but the debate has been revived in recent months by Andrew Denton and his 17-part podcast, Better Off Dead.

If Denton's advocacy does prod Australia into dealing with the right-to-die issue, Canada's emerging law could set down some significant signposts to follow.

Ending life not a privilege, but 'fundamental right'

All signs are pointing to a Canadian law that could be remarkably expansive in scope, stretching not only to terminally ill Canadians, but to any adults choosing to end "grievous" or "irremediable" suffering, including the mentally ill.

Last week, a special parliamentary committee of members and senators issued a landmark report likely to form the broad outlines of the new law.

Its 21 recommendations start from the same premise as the Supreme Court's ruling last year: that choosing to terminate one's life is not a privilege, but a fundamental right in cases of ending enduring or intolerable suffering.

Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms is treasured by many in the country, but possibly most by the people who now run the new government.

Mr Trudeau is the son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, who introduced the charter in the early 1980s.

Though the younger Trudeau has deliberately chosen not to walk in his father's footsteps in other policy areas, he has frequently declared that the Liberals are the "party of the charter".

For this new Government, the right-to-die legislation is not just a matter of getting in line with the Supreme Court, but also the Trudeau legacy.

The new Canadian cabinet is now studying last week's parliamentary report and is expected to introduce legislation within the coming weeks, possibly before the budget later this month.

If the Government does choose to go along with most of the 21 committee recommendations, the right-to-die law would probably work this way:

• Anyone diagnosed with a condition likely to cause enduring or intolerable suffering will be able to make arrangements in advance to die with medical assistance. That assistance could take a number of forms, such as withholding medication or administering drugs to hasten a person's death.
• The advance arrangements would have to be laid down in writing by a person while still competent to make decisions, with two witnesses, as well as agreement on eligibility from two independent doctors.

On the face of it, any new right-to-die law would be greeted with broad public support in Canada. One of the more recent polls, by Forum Research for the Toronto Star, showed nearly 80 per cent of Canadians would be in favour of a law that made it legal to seek medical help to end one's life.

Canadian medical profession deeply divided

But the pockets of opposition to such a law are located precisely at the front lines, among the physicians and institutions that would have to grapple with this expanded right in Canada.

The Supreme Court and the parliamentary committee noted that the medical profession in this country is deeply divided on the role it would have to play in helping people to die.

The Canadian Medical Association was disappointed, for instance, that the committee's report did not deal adequately with the prospect of doctors with principled objections to ending a patient's life.

"I have heard from some colleagues that are near retirement age that if this does become enshrined in legislation, they will retire," said Dr Jeff Blackmer, vice-president of medical professionalism for the Canadian Medical Association.

And at least two long-term care institutions in Canada have already served notice that they will not provide assistance in ending their patients' lives, no matter what the new law says.

Meanwhile,

Mr Trudeau's government, however, has a comfortable majority in parliament.

That reality, as well as its strong adherence to the Charter of Rights, means that a right-to-die law in Canada is imminent and, like Franklin's old adage on death and taxes, inevitable.

This post originally appeared on the ABC.

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