The Supreme Court of Canada on Friday ruled to allow doctor-assisted suicide across the country under certain circumstances, while giving the government more time to pass a law governing the practice.
The decision came as officials confirmed that a patient had already been helped to die in the French-speaking province of Quebec.
The court had overturned a ban on assisted suicide in February last year, putting Canada in the company of a handful of Western countries to make it legal.
However, it had said the decision would not take effect for a year, giving the government time to produce legislation.
The work got off schedule because of the October election and the defeat of the Conservative government by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. The newly elected justice minister had asked for the decision to be suspended for an extra six months.
Instead, the court gave the go-ahead for assisted suicide to begin now under certain conditions and granted the federal government four more months to come up with a national law.
The Canadian government said it respected the judgement and the additional time would help it develop an approach “that protects the most vulnerable among us, while respecting the inherent dignity of all Canadians.”
Polls show physician-assisted suicide has broad support, but the issue has divided politicians in the Canadian Parliament as they grapple with how to protect vulnerable Canadians while respecting their rights and choices at the end of life.
The court ruled doctors would be allowed to facilitate the death of patients in Quebec, which had already put its own law into effect in December.
Since the change in provincial law on Dec. 10, one person carried out an assisted suicide in Quebec City, a spokeswoman for the health and social services center for the Quebec City region said in an e-mail.
There is no way to say whether this was the first assisted-suicide under the new laws as Quebec does not currently keep such statistics, said Joanne Beauvais, a spokeswoman for Quebec Minister of Health Gaetan Barrette.
The Supreme Court ruling said people outside Quebec can apply to their provincial superior court for judicial authorization “to those who wish to exercise their rights” to doctor-assisted death.
Friday’s decision was split 5-4, with Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and three others disagreeing with giving an exemption to Quebec and to other individuals.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: By showing Ju-ae’s ability to handle a weapon, the photos ‘suggest she is indeed receiving training as a successor,’ an academic said North Korea on Saturday released a rare image of leader Kim Jong-un’s teenage daughter firing a rifle at a shooting range, adding to speculation that she is being groomed as his successor. Kim’s daughter, Ju-ae, has long been seen as the next in line to rule the secretive, nuclear-armed state, and took part in a string of recent high-profile outings, including last week’s military parade marking the closing stages of North Korea’s key party congress. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a photo of Ju-ae shooting a rifle at an outdoor shooting range, peering through a rifle scope
India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi. The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between their nations. “Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said. Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
RSS