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Full-Text Articles in Law
Draft Provincial/Territorial Legislation To Implement A Regulatory Framework For Medically-Assisted Dying Consistent With Carter V. Canada (Attorney General) 2015 Scc 5 And The Final Report Of The Provincial-Territorial Expert Advisory Group On Physician-Assisted Dying, Jocelyn Downie
Reports & Public Policy Documents
On February 6, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously declared that the Criminal Code prohibitions on physician-assisted dying (both assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia) violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They immediately suspended the declaration for 12 months thus allowing the government time to craft new legislation. This paper is a contribution to the project of meeting that deadline -- it presents draft provincial/territorial legislation. This draft legislation is based on: 1) a thorough review of existing legislation in all permissive regimes throughout the world (reviewed through a "lessons learned" lens); 2) the requirements for constitutional validity …
Prosecutorial Discretion In Assisted Dying In Canada: A Proposal For Charging Guidelines, Jocelyn Downie, Ben White
Prosecutorial Discretion In Assisted Dying In Canada: A Proposal For Charging Guidelines, Jocelyn Downie, Ben White
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
English Abstract: An Expert Panel of the Royal Society of Canada and a Select Committee of the Québec National Assembly both recently recommended the issuance of permissive guidelines for the exercise of prosecutorial discretion on voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide and “medical aid in dying” respectively. It seems timely, therefore, to propose a set of offence-specific guidelines for how prosecutorial discretion should be exercised in cases of voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canadian provinces and territories. We take as our starting point the only existing guidelines of this sort currently in force in the world (i.e. the British Columbia …
Restorative Justice, Euthanasia, And Assisted Suicide: A New Arena For Restorative Justice And A New Path For End Of Life Law And Policy In Canada, Jennifer Llewellyn, Jocelyn Downie
Restorative Justice, Euthanasia, And Assisted Suicide: A New Arena For Restorative Justice And A New Path For End Of Life Law And Policy In Canada, Jennifer Llewellyn, Jocelyn Downie
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
This article examines the current Canadian legal approach to euthanasia and assisted suicide, highlights some of the problems with it, and offers a novel alternative to the current traditionally criminalized prohibitive regime. The authors first describe a restorative justice approach and explain the differences between such an approach and the traditional approach currently in use. They then explain how a restorative justice approach could be implemented in the arena of assisted death, acknowledging the potential challenges in implementation. The authors conclude that taking a restorative justice approach to euthanasia and assisted suicide could enable movement in the seemingly intractable public …