Reports

Canada’s assisted suicide regime was established by legislation in 2016, following its decriminalization by Carter v. Canada in 2015. It was originally justified as a narrow exception grounded in contemporaneous, voluntary, and informed consent. Expansions of eligibility, existing and contemplated, now threaten that foundation. Proposals for “advance requests” and emerging professional discourse around “involuntary (non-consensual) euthanasia,” risk shifting end-of-life decision-making from personal autonomy to third-party judgment. As assisted suicide becomes increasingly routine, the erosion of informed consent threatens Charter protections and human dignity. True end-of-life freedom requires strict safeguards, rejection of non-consensual death, and vastly improved access to quality palliative care.