Laws Against Assisted Suicide Upheld by B.C. Appeals Court

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The B.C. Court of Appeal has overturned a previously announced ruling of lower court, which conceived that Canada’s law against physician-assisted suicide were unconstitutional, once again igniting the heated debate over the quarrelsome issue for the Supreme Court of Canada. A split decision announced on Thursday by the B.C. Appeal Court revealed that a B.C. judge made an error of judgment last year, when she decided that sections of the Criminal Code prohibiting assisted suicide were unconstitutional, ignoring the changes made since B.C. woman Sue Rodriguez lost her bid to change the law in 1993.

An ALS patient, Ms. Rodriguez has previously challenged Canada’s laws against assisted suicide back in 1993, when the Supreme Court of Canada found that laws against assisted suicide were constitutional. In the two judges writing for the majority, it was stated that “it is our view that although the law with respect to the Charter has certainly evolved since 1993, no change sufficient to undermine Rodriguez as a binding authority has occurred.”

The plaintiffs in the case, especially Ms. Taylor, have challenged legal restrictions against assisted suicide, alleging that the option should be available to people who were terminally ill and in pain. The Appeal Court ruling has also allowed the plaintiffs that a constitutional exemption that would help people for whom the law has “an extraordinary and even cruel effect.” The ruling specifically pointed out that “a constitutional exemption for those who are clear-minded … might not undermine the intention of the legislation.”