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Empower U: Learn to Access Your Disability Rights Training on Canadian Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and its Optional Protocol (OP) training aims to increase awareness of how to address discrimination using more familiar Canadian human rights laws such as Human Rights Codes and the newer international Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This is training for persons with disabilities by persons with disabilities. The training is part of a project funded by Employment and Social Development Canada and implemented by the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) in collaboration with Canadian Multicultural Disability Centre Inc. (CMDCI), Citizens With Disabilities – Ontario (CWDO), Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities (MLPD) and National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS). Read more.
Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide Archives
Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide
February 26, 2024
C-62: CCD, ARCH, Inclusion Canada, DAWN Canada Urged Changes to MAiD Bill - February 23, 2024
View media conference. Read more.
November 25, 2021
An Open Letter from the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) Concerning the Canadian Psychiatric Association Position Statement on Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD)
The Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD), a national human rights organization of people with disabilities working for an equitable, accessible and inclusive Canada, is very concerned about the approach taken on Medical Aid in Dying by the Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA) in its Position Statement. CCD joins others in calling upon the CPA to reform its Position Statement on MAiD. Read more.
March 15, 2021
CCD Disappointed by House of Commons Yes Vote on Bill C-7 (Medical Aid in Dying)
The MAID regime that will be authorized by the Bill will put vulnerable people with disabilities in harm’s way by making it easier to access medical aid in dying. While many people with disabilities cannot access the disability-related supports that they need to live dignified lives in the community, they will be able to get Medical Aid in Dying. The Bill creates a separate track, whereby people with disabilities can access MAID, even if they are not at end of life. Even people experiencing a mental health crisis will have access to MAID. “We are extremely concerned that people with disabilities experiencing a temporary crisis will accept MAID and die needlessly,” states Smith. Read more.
January 29, 2021
UN Human Rights Experts' Statement Condemning Medically-Assisted Death for People with Disabilities Not at End-of-Life Means that Canada is No Longer an International Leader in Human Rights
The Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD), a national disability rights organization, is highlighting a recent statement by United Nations human rights experts condemning the growing trend towards legalizing Medically Assisted Death for people with disabilities who are not at end-of-life as “definitive evidence” that Bill C-7, the Liberal government’s proposed expansion of Canada’s MAiD law, is a direct violation of Canada’s commitments as a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Read more.
November 7, 2020
COUNCIL OF CANADIANS WITH DISABILITIES DENOUNCES TRUDEAU GOVERNMENT'S RE-INTRODUCTION OF UNAMMENDED BILL C-7 ON MEDICAL AID IN DYING AS "HEAD-IN-THE SAND MENTALITY" THAT ENDANGERS THE LIVES OF CANADIANS WITH DISABILITIES
The Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD), a national disability rights organization, is vehemently denouncing the Trudeau government’s re-introduction of Bill C-7, a bill which extends access to Medical Aid in Dying to people who are experiencing intolerable suffering as a result of illness or disability, but whose death is not reasonably foreseeable. The bill was first introduced in early February, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Canada. Read more.
November 7, 2020
The Council of Canadians with Disabilities Supports Quebecer, Jonathan Marchand, as he brings his cage in front of the National Assembly in Quebec to obtain his and his friends' release from long-term care facilities
The Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD), a national disability rights organization, is expressing its support for 43-year-old Jonathan Marchand as he begins a protest to obtain his and his friends’ release from long-term care facilities in Quebec. Read more.
September 4, 2018
CANADA'S MEDICAL ASSISTANCE IN DYING REGULATIONS FALL SHORT
The Canadian Association for Community Living (CACL) and the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) strongly call on the federal government to strengthen the monitoring system for medical assistance in dying (MAiD). Read more.
April 15, 2016
Bill C-14 Does Not Go Far Enough to Protect Vulnerable Canadians
“In the Carter decision, the Supreme Court of Canada gave the Government of Canada two assignments (1) develop a regime to provide dying people access to assisted suicide and (2) protect vulnerable Canadians who at a time of weakness may be influenced to accept medical aid in dying. Unfortunately, C-14 has some serious gaps when it comes to protecting the vulnerable,” states Rhonda Wiebe, a Co-Chair of CCD’s Ending of Life Ethics Committee. “Canada must do enough to protect people like me and other Canadians with disabilities who can be made vulnerable by both our health conditions and our social and economic circumstances”. Read more.
March 29, 2016
Vulnerable Persons Standard
Read more for a sample letter that individuals can send to their MPs supporting the Vulnerable Persons Standard and asking that its terms be incorporated in the law regulating assisted suicide/euthanasia. Read more.
January 28, 2016
"Right to Palliative Care, Vulnerability Assessment & Review Board Key Pillars of PAD/VE Regime" Says Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD)
Today, the Special Joint Committee on Physician Assisted Dying hears from Rhonda Wiebe and Dean Richert, who co-chair CCD's Ending of Life Ethics Committee. Read more.
January 15, 2016
SCC Decision Disappoints
The Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) was disappointed by today's Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) decision in the Carter case, because the SCC granted a four, as opposed to the requested six, month extension for Parliament to develop a system for physician-assisted suicide and the SCC granted an exemption from the extension to Quebec, where an assisted suicide law came into force on December 10, 2015. Read more.
October 14, 2014
"Canadians Should not be Provided Public Support to Kill Themselves"
The Supreme Court of Canada will hear the appeal in the Carter case October 15th in which it is being asked to strike down these protections, but only for disabled people. The Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) and the Canadian Association for Community Living (CACL) are the organized voice of Canada’s disabled citizens. They will appear in court to oppose efforts to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia. Read more.
October 9, 2014
Ipsos-Reid Poll on 'Assisted Dying': Flawed Data and Disappointing Analysis
How can an online survey of ninety-four, self-selected people with disabilities be interpreted to say 85% of Canadians with disabilities “support medically assisted dying? Read more.
April 23, 2013
Prejudice Erodes Free Choice in End of Life Decision-making
Rather than a steady diet of the pathos of Susan Griffiths’ story, Free Press readers would be better served by an informed discussion of how cultural practices toward disability affect end of life choices; the need for procedural safeguards if assisted suicide is decriminalized and how decriminalization of assisted suicide will not disrupt the power imbalance between doctors and patients to the point where the Susan Griffiths of the world will receive assisted suicide on demand. Read more.
April 23, 2013
Suicide Celebration Instead of Suicide Prevention
23 April 2013, WINNIPEG, MB – According to media reports, Susan Griffiths’ assisted suicide will likely occur on Thursday (25 April 2013) at a Dignitas Clinic in Switzerland. Members of the Canadian disability community, who oppose assisted suicide, are available to discuss their concerns about assisted suicide with the media on Wednesday (24 April 2013) and Thursday (25 April 2013). Their contact information is listed below. Read more.
April 3, 2013
Canada's MPs Hear from CCD about Our Opposition to Assisted Suicide
The Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD), a national organization of men and women with disabilities, working for an accessible and inclusive Canada, applauds the Attorney General of Canada for appealing the decision in the Carter case, which struck down Canada’s prohibitions against assisted suicide. Read more.
February 5, 2013
DISABILITY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS QUESTION EFFORTS TO LEGALISE ASSISTED SUICIDE DURING SUICIDE PREVENTION WEEK
While Quebec marks suicide prevention week from February 3-9, disability rights activists question whether it’s appropriate for the Marois government to table legislation to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia. Read more.
January 10, 2013
Please Oppose "Assisted Suicide"
In a video presentation, Rhonda Wiebe, Co-chair of the CCD Ending of Life Ethics Committee, explains why legalized assisted suicide puts people with disabilities at risk. Read more.
November 17, 2011
CCD hopes court will rule no on killing
Legalized assisted suicide is a recipe for lethal abuse. Read more.
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.
July 24, 2009
An Open Letter to Members of Parliament RE: C384
July 24, 2009
Fast Facts About Bill C-384
What does Bill C-384 do? Bill C-384 would legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada. Read more.
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)
March 6, 1997
Excerpt from House of Commons: Bill C-304, an act to amend the Criminal Code (aiding suicide)
January 8, 1997
Disabled fear for lives as mercy killing gains acceptance
January 1, 1993
Rodriguez Case Factum
Tracy Latimer
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.