VANCOUVER, BC: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces that Delta Hospice Society can now present critical arguments and evidence to the court in a case putting pressure on faith-based healthcare facilities in British Columbia to offer Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) to palliative care patients.
Chief Justice Ronald A. Skolrood granted Delta Hospice Society intervenor status in the case on April 1, 2025. The Society is a registered charity and vocal advocate for MAID-free palliative care facilities.
Should faith-based health care providers be forced to offer MAID to palliative care patients in British Columbia? The Supreme Court of British Columbia must answer this question in a lawsuit about whether Canadians have a right to die in MAID-free spaces.
In early 2022, 34-year-old Samantha O’Neill was admitted to Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital, where she was diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer. In 2023, she decided that she wanted to be euthanized but learned that St. Paul’s Hospital did not perform MAID procedures. The hospital is operated by Providence Health Care Society, “a Catholic health care community dedicated to meeting the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of those served through compassionate care, teaching, and research.” The Catholic Church has long opposed all forms of euthanasia.
Ms. O’Neill died on April 4, 2023, as she was preparing to be transferred to a new health care facility that administered MAID. Her mother, Gaye O’Neill, is now suing Providence Health Care Society and the Province of British Columbia, arguing that her daughter suffered needless pain and that her Charter rights to freedom of conscience and religion and to life, liberty, and security of the person had been violated.
Since 2023, Delta Hospice Society Executive Director Angelina Ireland has educated groups across Canada and the United States on the importance of protecting and preserving authentic palliative care and about the risks of presenting MAID materials in palliative care spaces. As intervenors, the Society will encourage the court to consider that many terminally ill patients do not want to be asked about their interest in euthanasia and desire a MAID-free space in their final chapter.
Indeed, they will argue that the Charter section 7 right to life, liberty, and security of the person demands that patients have access to palliative care spaces affirming the value and dignity of life.
Ms. Ireland stated, “We look forward to confirming Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms for Canadians who seek life-affirming spaces during their illnesses, so they are not deprived of life, liberty and the security of the person.”
Constitutional lawyer Allison Pejovic stated, “There are many terminally ill palliative care patients in British Columbia who desire to spend their final days without being asked if they want their life ended by their health care provider. It is important that these patients are able to access a MAID free space which upholds their human dignity, liberty, and bodily autonomy.”
