Document Type
Video
Publication Date
9-19-2012
Keywords
James L. Lewtas Lecture; Assisted suicide--Law and legislation; British Columbia; Canada. Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 7
Abstract
An overflow crowd turned out to hear noted human rights litigator Joseph Arvay, Q.C. deliver the James Lewtas Lecture at Osgoode Hall Law School on September 19, 2012 on the topic, "Is There a Constitutional Right to Die?"
Arvay of Arvay Finlay Barristers has been in the news recently in connection with a British Columbia Supreme Court decision involving his client, Gloria Taylor, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and who maintains that she has a constitutional right to a physician-assisted death. The B.C. Supreme Court declared that the section of the Criminal Code that prohibits physician-assisted death is invalid because it infringes the rights to life, liberty and security of the person as guaranteed by s. 7 of the Charter, and also violates the equality provisions of the Charter. The decision is now under appeal and the appeal is expected to be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada next March.
Repository Citation
Arvay, Joseph J., "Is There a Constitutional Right to Die?" (2012). James L. Lewtas Lecture. 2.
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/lewtas/2