Assisting in suicide is an infringement of the right not to be deprived of life, liberty or security of the person except in accordance with fundamental justice. It is not cruel and unusual treatment or punishment to live with a disability.
Court Decisions
Supreme Court of Canada,
Rodriguez v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [1993] 3 S.C.R. 519 (Lexum)
Docket 23476:
Sue Rodriguez v. Attorney General of British Columbia, et al.
Submissions
The EFC intervened in the Supreme Court of Canada in the
Rodriguez case on whether the law prohibiting assisted suicide is constitutional. Sue Rodriguez, a woman terminally ill with ALS, argued that the Court should strike down the section of the Criminal Code that prohibits physician-assisted suicide. The EFC and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops argued that assisted suicide would undermine the life-affirming principles in Canadian law. Download the
EFC's Factum of the Intervenors