The Federal Report on physician assisted dying has been released. The panel was chaired by Harvey Chochinov (Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Canada Research Chair in Palliative Care at the University of Manitoba, and Director of the Manitoba Palliative Care Research Unit, Cancer Care Manitoba). He was joined by Catherine Frazee (Professor Emerita at Ryerson University) and Benoît Pelletier (Professor of Law, University of Ottawa former Liberal member of the National Assembly of Quebec, and Quebec Cabinet minister).

Together the Panel was tasked with evaluating the options for a legislative response to the Supreme Court of Canada’ s ruling in Carter v Canada legalizing physician assisted suicide. The Panel considered submissions from Bakerlaw’s David Baker and Rebeka Lauks, both of whom are cited in the report.

The Report was released today and can be read here (link).

Now, the newly appointed Special Joint Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying Committee will review the report and consult with key stakeholders to make recommendations on how the federal government should respond to the Court’s ruling. Initially the Government was given until February 6th to take action but the Court has recently granted a four month extension. To learn more about the extension see our earlier post on the subject here (link).

To learn more about the Special Joint Committee click here (link).