The ruling shows the court remains more divided on the contentious issue than last year’s unanimous decision to strike the criminal law against assisted suicide revealed.
Four judges — Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, Thomas Cromwell, Michael Moldaver and Russell Brown — would not have extended exemptions to Quebec or others in the interval while Ottawa gets its legislative act together.
The dissenting quartet insisted it should be up to legislators to respond, not the courts.
“We do not underestimate the agony of those who continue to be denied access to the help that they need to end their suffering. That should be clear from the Court’s reasons for judgment on the merits. However, neither do we underestimate the complexity of the issues that surround the fundamental question of when it should be lawful to commit acts that would otherwise constitute criminal conduct.
“The complexity results not only from the profound moral and ethical dimensions of the question, but also from the overlapping federal and provincial legislative competence in relation to it.
“The Court unanimously held, in its judgment on the merits, that these are matters most appropriately addressed by the legislative process. We remain of that view. That the legislative process needs more time is regrettable, but it does not undermine the point that it is the best way to address this issue.”
On Monday, federal lawyers said that Ottawa would be prepared to recognize the legality of Quebec’s right-to-die regime for now, while it drafted its own new criminal law on the issues, and asked the high court to allow the criminal code ban to stand in other provinces.
The criminal provisions were set to expire on Feb. 6, one year after the Supreme Court’s declaration that the law was unconstitutional. Federal lawyer Robert Frater said since a federal election happened in the year that the court gave Ottawa to redraft its laws, politicians needed extra time to provide more “clarity” to protect vulnerable people.
Ontario supported the federal bid for more time and said it, too, was drafting new medical guidelines in case the court didn’t agree.
Only Quebec has come up with a “carefully designed and monitored scheme” to address the concerns of physicians and patients after the high court ruled last year people suffering a “grievous and irremediable medical condition” must be allowed to seek a doctor’s help to end their lives.
On Monday, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said her government has asked the College of Physicians and Surgeons, which regulates the medical profession, to draft guidelines for doctors that could kick in right away if the court refused to grant more time.
“We are acutely aware that if there is no extension that the province needs a protocol in place,” Wynne said. “If there is an extension, we will work with colleagues across the country and with the federal government to work on what that national protocol will be. But, in the absence of that, we will be prepared to bring that forward and obviously we make that public in due course.”
Article Appeared @http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/01/15/supreme-court-agrees-to-extend-deadline-for-right-to-die-law-by-four-months.html