Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide
CCD is committed to the principles of self-determination and the positive promotion of the image of Canadians with disabilities in society in a manner that is consistent with the principles of equality, personal security, freedom of conscience and human dignity.
CCD believes that the devaluation of the lives and experiences of persons with disabilities has been used to justify acts of violence against people with disabilities, including the murder of people with disabilities.
CCD opposes actions that may serve to further devalue the lives of people with disabilities in Canada or promote the negative stereotypes about people with disabilities as suffering individuals in need of state regulated assistance to end our lives.
CCD opposes any government action which denies people with disabilities their constitutional rights to equality, personal security, and human dignity.
CCD is committed to actions which promote a positive image of persons with disabilities.
CCD opposes government action to decriminalize assisted suicide because of the serious potential for abuse and the negative image of people with disabilities that would be produced if people with disabilities are killed with state sanction. (Policy statement passed by the CCD National Council of Representatives on June 8, 1996.)
Recent Work
June 29, 2010
Canadians with Disabilities: We Are Not Dead Yet
On 16 June 2010, two Canadians with disabilities, Rhonda Wiebe, Co-chair of CCD's Ending of Life Ethics Committee, and Jim Derksen, a Committee Member, appeared before the Ad Hoc Committee on Palliative and Compassionate Care to present CCD's brief "Canadians with Disabilities: We Are Not Dead Yet". Read more.
June 15, 2010
Canadians with Disabilities--We Are Not Dead Yet*
"I would rather be dead than live with a disability," is a sentiment that people with disabilities, particularly those with severe disabilities, hear from people without disabilities. Such a comment rests on an incorrect assumption that the quality of life is poor when you have a disability. Incorrect assumptions about quality of life have the power to trigger responses that harm people with disabilities. If a simplistic approach is applied when developing end of life policy, the long term result will be systemic discrimination against people with disabilities who are seriously ill or at end of life.
In 1996, CCD passed a resolution stating "…The CCD opposes any government action to decriminalize assisted suicide because of the serious potential for abuse and the negative image of people with disabilities that would be produced if people with disabilities are killed with state sanction…" CCD explains the rationale for its opposition to legalized assisted suicide and shares recommendations focused on staunching the forces that cause Canadians to believe that assisted suicide is a necessary option.
Read more.
December 2, 2009
Letter to the Editor: Re: Locked in Patients Humanity for the Trapped (25 November 2009)
Misdiagnosis of “locked-in” patients as being in a vegetative state is one reason why doctors should not have exclusive control over end of life decision making: Like all human endeavors, the practice of medicine is affected by limitations in knowledge and cultural understanding of human behavior. Read more.
More on Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide
July 24, 2009
An Open Letter to Members of Parliament RE: C384
July 24, 2009
Fast Facts About Bill C-384
January 1, 2003
Legalizing Physician-Assisted Death: Can Safeguards Protect the Interests of Vulnerable Persons?
January 1, 2003
Legalizing Physician-Assisted Death: Can Safeguards Protect the Interests of Vulnerable Persons?
February 26, 1999
Genereux Case Factum
December 1, 1997
Latimer Case: Latimer's application to appeal (1997)
Jim Derksen views inaccessible York Street Steps in Ottawa. CCD intervened in the Brown Case, which challenged an inadequate accommodation developed for the Steps.
The Latimer Case
The Latimer case directly concerned the rights of persons with disabilities. Mr. Latimer's view was that a parent has the right to kill a child with a disability if that parent decides the child's quality of life no longer warrants its continuation. CCD explained to the court and to the public how that view threatens the lives of people with disabilities and is deeply offensive to fundamental constitutional values. Learn more.