{"id":217157,"date":"2020-01-19T13:08:35","date_gmt":"2020-01-19T19:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=217157"},"modified":"2020-01-18T14:19:36","modified_gmt":"2020-01-18T20:19:36","slug":"euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/","title":{"rendered":"Euthanasia in Canada: No longer just for those ‘near death,’ advocates push ‘advance consent’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(Life Site News<\/a>)\u00a0Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s Liberal government announced Monday it has accepted a Quebec court ruling striking down the \u201cnear death\u201d requirement for euthanasia as unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

The Liberals are now rushing to overhaul Canada\u2019s euthanasia<\/a> law by the court\u2019s imposed deadline of March 11, 2020 and have launched an online consultation<\/a> that closes January 27.<\/p>\n

The federal consultation asks about advance consent, something the Quebec<\/a> government is also considering, says Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.<\/p>\n

Advance consent would allow individuals with degenerative diseases such as dementia to issue an advance directive asking to be killed by lethal injection at a future date when they are no longer able to actively consent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a serious problem because, of course, it then denies your ability to change your mind,\u201d Schadenberg told LifeSiteNews.<\/p>\n

It also \u201cmeans that the person you\u2019re killing doesn\u2019t even have the right or the ability to confirm that they want you to inject them.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s essential that Canadians who oppose euthanasia answer the Liberal online survey despite its \u201cvery problematic\u201d questions that presume support for euthanasia, Schadenberg told LifeSiteNews.<\/p>\n

LifeSiteNews and Campaign Life Coalition, Canada\u2019s largest pro-life, pro-family national political lobbying group, are likewise urging supporters to participate in the questionnaire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0HORRIFYING: Canada wants to partner organ harvesting with euthanasia<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSilence is not golden in this case. Silence does not help us,\u201d Schadenberg stressed. \u201cEven if the question is awkward, it\u2019s better to express your opposition to something than to be silent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most importantly, participants can write 500-word comments after three sections, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt least it gives us an opportunity to say \u2018I\u2019m absolutely opposed to this,\u2019\u201d Schadenberg told LifeSiteNews. \u201cIt might be worth something. And then I have hope that there\u2019ll be enough of a response that the government will say, \u2018Hold on.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Liberal online consultation also asks about the 10-day minimum wait between requesting and receiving a medically assisted death, but the question is unclear and neglects to mention that the law allows a doctor or nurse practitioner to waive this period, Schadenberg said.<\/p>\n

The consultation asks if the law should require both the medical practitioner and patient to agree that other reasonable treatment options have been tried without success; that psychological or psychiatric assessments be done to determine capacity to consent; and that in addition to the current mandatory two medical assessments, a consultation with an expert in a person\u2019s medical condition be done.<\/p>\n

Schadenberg has published released a guide to answering the current online consultation, which can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Canada legalized euthanasia in June 2016 at the direction of the Supreme Court, which in February 2015 struck down the Criminal Code prohibition against euthanasia as unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

Tellingly, Justice Minister David Lametti, then a backbencher and now responsible for drafting amendments to Bill C-14, was one of only four Liberal M.P.s to vote against the original law.<\/p>\n

Lametti opposed the bill because he thought it was too restrictive.<\/p>\n

Bill C-14 currently<\/a> allows euthanasia for individuals 18 years of age or older who are capable of giving informed consent, make a voluntary request that does not result from external pressure, and have a grievous and irremediable medical condition.<\/p>\n

The law defines a \u201cgrievous and irremediable medical condition\u201d as a \u201cserious and incurable illness, disease or disability\u201d that results in the person being in \u201can advanced state of irreversible decline in capability\u201d and enduring \u201cphysical or psychological suffering that is intolerable to the person and cannot be relieved in a manner that they consider acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill C-14 also required that a person\u2019s natural death be \u201creasonably foreseeable,\u201d but Quebec Superior Court judge Christine Baudouin<\/a>struck down that provision September 11, 2019, as well as the Quebec law\u2019s \u201cend of life\u201d requirement.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Canadian bishops sound alarm after judge strikes down euthanasia restrictions<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Baudouin gave the federal and the Quebec governments six months to amend their legislation.<\/p>\n

The Liberals reported in the online consultation that 6,700 Canadians have been killed by euthanasia or assisted suicide since Canada legalized the practice.<\/p>\n

They also promised a \u201cfuller\u201d review of the euthanasia law this summer, as C-14 mandated that the government look into allowing euthanasia for children, or \u201cmature minors,\u201d for mental illness alone and allowing advance consent.<\/p>\n

The government asked the Council of Canadian Academies to study these issues, and the CCA released a report in December 2018.<\/p>\n

Schadenberg concedes that the Liberals may be determined to follow a particular course irrespective of what Canadians tell them but insists that the consultation is an opportunity to express their opposition to killing by taking part in the consultation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s controversial because, will it actually accomplish anything? I don’t know,\u201d Schadenberg said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I do know that saying nothing will accomplish nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Liberal online consultation on euthanasia or Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) can be found <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>. Schadenberg\u2019s guide to responding can be found on his Euthanasia Prevention Coalition blog <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

LAN Editor’s Note: This article was published at Life Site News<\/a> and is reprinted here with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a> for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Life Site News)\u00a0Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s Liberal government announced Monday it has accepted a Quebec court ruling striking down the \u201cnear death\u201d requirement for euthanasia as unconstitutional. The Liberals are now rushing to overhaul Canada\u2019s euthanasia law by the court\u2019s imposed deadline of March 11, 2020 and have launched an online consultation that closes January […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":414,"featured_media":192159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7077,5,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nEuthanasia in Canada: No longer just for those 'near death,' advocates push 'advance consent'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"PM Justin Trudeau\u2019s government announced it has accepted a Quebec court ruling striking down the \u201cnear death\u201d requirement for euthanasia.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Euthanasia in Canada: No longer just for those 'near death,' advocates push 'advance consent'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PM Justin Trudeau\u2019s government announced it has accepted a Quebec court ruling striking down the \u201cnear death\u201d requirement for euthanasia.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-19T19:08:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-18T20:19:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Justin-Trudeau-canada.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lianne Laurence\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lianne Laurence\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lianne Laurence\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ad51922b4a006adcaf106ac3e3933b83\"},\"headline\":\"Euthanasia in Canada: No longer just for those ‘near death,’ advocates push ‘advance consent’\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-19T19:08:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-18T20:19:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/\"},\"wordCount\":872,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Guest Column\",\"International\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/\",\"name\":\"Euthanasia in Canada: No longer just for those 'near death,' advocates push 'advance consent'\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-19T19:08:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-18T20:19:36+00:00\",\"description\":\"PM Justin Trudeau\u2019s government announced it has accepted a Quebec court ruling striking down the \u201cnear death\u201d requirement for euthanasia.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Euthanasia in Canada: No longer just for those ‘near death,’ advocates push ‘advance consent’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ad51922b4a006adcaf106ac3e3933b83\",\"name\":\"Lianne Laurence\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef0e705d116c10a7391d45acea896892?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef0e705d116c10a7391d45acea896892?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lianne Laurence\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/lianne-laurence\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Euthanasia in Canada: No longer just for those 'near death,' advocates push 'advance consent'","description":"PM Justin Trudeau\u2019s government announced it has accepted a Quebec court ruling striking down the \u201cnear death\u201d requirement for euthanasia.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Euthanasia in Canada: No longer just for those 'near death,' advocates push 'advance consent'","og_description":"PM Justin Trudeau\u2019s government announced it has accepted a Quebec court ruling striking down the \u201cnear death\u201d requirement for euthanasia.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2020-01-19T19:08:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-18T20:19:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Justin-Trudeau-canada.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lianne Laurence","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lianne Laurence","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/"},"author":{"name":"Lianne Laurence","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ad51922b4a006adcaf106ac3e3933b83"},"headline":"Euthanasia in Canada: No longer just for those ‘near death,’ advocates push ‘advance consent’","datePublished":"2020-01-19T19:08:35+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-18T20:19:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/"},"wordCount":872,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Guest Column","International","Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/","name":"Euthanasia in Canada: No longer just for those 'near death,' advocates push 'advance consent'","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-01-19T19:08:35+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-18T20:19:36+00:00","description":"PM Justin Trudeau\u2019s government announced it has accepted a Quebec court ruling striking down the \u201cnear death\u201d requirement for euthanasia.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-canada-near-death-advance-consent\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Euthanasia in Canada: No longer just for those ‘near death,’ advocates push ‘advance consent’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ad51922b4a006adcaf106ac3e3933b83","name":"Lianne Laurence","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef0e705d116c10a7391d45acea896892?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef0e705d116c10a7391d45acea896892?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lianne Laurence"},"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/lianne-laurence\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217157"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/414"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217158,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217157\/revisions\/217158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}