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http://www.thestar.com/article/857468—quebec-dying-with-dignity-hearings-prompt-deep-divide

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Panel studies a thorny topic [The Montreal Gazette]
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/todays-paper/Panel+studies+thorny+topic/3492599/story.html

An emotional public debate on euthanasia and physician assisted-suicide started in Montreal yesterday, nearly 17 years after Sue Rodriguez of British Columbia fought right up to the Supreme Court of Canada for the right to kill herself.

In Quebec, where cases of family-assisted mercy killing for their loved ones receive much media coverage, the topic has never been far from the surface. Doctors have come down on both sides of the debate.

That's why a public forum is needed, yet the hearings will not change the current illegal status of euthanasia, Liberal MNA Geoff Kelley, head of the Select Committee on Dying with Dignity, which is examining the issue. The hearings continue in Montreal until the end of this week, then move to other cities.

But Day 1 showed the demand for help in dying is deeply controversial, a debate mired in conflicting values, cultural and religious beliefs. Some called it murder, while others said that under the right conditions euthanasia can be as sacred as the right to life. Many made the case for improving access to palliative care before choosing death.

But even with good end-of-life care, some people would prefer to have the choice of ending their lives, said Line Chartrand, president of a regional women's advocacy group called AFEAS Regionale Montreal-Laurentides-Outaouais, with 12,000 members across the province. The group, which has lobbied the federal government since 2005 to amend the Criminal Code to allow euthanasia, says assisted suicide is a pillar of autonomy, especially for people suffering from inconsolable emotional or psychological distress.

In contrast, the group Vivre dans la dignite said euthanasia is not acceptable under any circumstances, not even exceptional cases.

Quebec opens hearing into euthanasia [Global Regina]
http://www.globalregina.com/Quebec+opens+hearing+into+euthanasia/3494488/story.html

Last June, Roland Rouleau waited until his wife left the house before firing an old hunting rifle twice into his stomach.

But it wasn't suicide, said Sylvie Coulombe, Rouleau's partner, at the public hearings held by a special committee on dying with dignity in Montreal. "It was voluntary euthanasia because he could no longer stand the pain," Coulombe said. "He needed to find a way to act before becoming a complete prisoner of his body."

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal in Canada and, barring a dramatic change in Ottawa, the hearings won't change that, committee chair Liberal MNA Geoff Kelley said earlier at the launch of the hearings.

Rouleau's family members - 15 in total - made an emotional plea Tuesday for a change to the law so others in similar circumstances don't have to make anguished decisions about dying alone without being able to say goodbye.

"It's a testimony to his memory . . . something that he believed in," said his sister Jeannine Rouleau-Auger. "If he was still alive, he'd be here testifying himself," said his daughter Dacha Rouleau-Dumont. Rouleau, 59, of Abitibi, had multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease that took over his body until he was unable to move without a wheelchair; he couldn't garden, walk in the woods or read.

A member of the Dying with Dignity Association, Rouleau spent the last three years of his life unsuccessfully looking for a doctor to help end his life. He even researched a trip to Switzerland. "I would wake up in the night and see him crying," Coulombe said. Before he lost consciousness after pulling the trigger, Rouleau called 911 for an ambulance to spare his wife the discovery of his body. But Rouleau survived. At the hospital emergency room, doctors wanted to operate to save his life.

Hebert: Quebec leads the way with euthanasia debate [The Toronto Star]
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/857688—hebert-quebec-leads-the-way-with-euthanasia-debate

A bit more than three decades ago, the ordinary men and women who made up a Quebec jury opened the way to unrestricted access to abortion in Canada when they refused to find Dr. Henry Morgentaler guilty of a crime for performing the procedure on demand.

The Quebec government of the day was appalled by the verdict but eventually it had no choice but to relent and stop prosecuting abortion-related cases. More than a decade before the federal abortion law was struck down by the Supreme Court, it became inoperative in Quebec.

Today the sons and daughters of that generation of jurors have grown up to become the most liberal group of legislators in the country and they push the social frontiers from inside the National Assembly.

A few years ago Quebec was at the forefront of the battle to legalize gay marriage, with public support for that change running higher in the province than anywhere else in Canada.

Now Quebec may be about to push the envelope on euthanasia.

This week, a special government committee headed by Liberal MNA Geoffrey Kelley hit the road to hear what Quebecers have to say about end-of-life issues including euthanasia and assisted suicide. After a week in Montreal, it will set out on a province-wide tour.

While euthanasia has been debated in other venues in Canada, the Quebec exercise is in a class of its own on a number of levels…

Editorial: Decriminalizing euthanasia [The Suburban News]
http://www.thesuburbannews.ca/content/en/5340

This editorial concludes: The late US Senator Hubert Humphrey once said that, "Society is measured by how it treats those in the dawn of life, in the dusk of life but most importantly in the shadow of life." The bottom line is that a free society must allow a person the right to die, but can never be allowed to dictate that someone has to die.

Editorial: The right to die [North Shore News]
http://www.nsnews.com/right/3494563/story.html

This editorial concludes: As for the right to die, many will recall the case of Sue Rodriguez, smitten with Lou Gehrig's disease, who was denied the right to kill herself by the Supreme Court of Canada in a narrow 5-4 decision in 1992. She killed herself anyway two years later and her case sparked the last big debate in Canada on assisted suicide.

It's time for another. And, since any federal government would want to follow rather than lead its people on this emotional issue, it would be better if a national forum for feedback could be established.

There are no easy answers, but some people do, we believe, have the right to an easier death.

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