Carter v Canada (Attorney General)
| Carter v Canada (Attorney General) | |
|---|---|
|
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| Hearing: October 15, 2014 Judgment: February 6, 2015 |
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| Citations | 2015 SCC 5 |
| Docket No. | S112688 |
| Prior history | On appeal from the Court of Appeal for British Columbia |
| Ruling | Appeal allowed |
| Holding | |
| Criminal prohibition of assisted suicide violates the Charter. | |
| Court Membership | |
| Chief Justice | Beverley McLachlin |
| Puisne Justices | Louis LeBel, Rosalie Abella, Marshall Rothstein, Thomas Cromwell, Michael Moldaver, Andromache Karakatsanis, Richard Wagner, Clément Gascon. |
| Reasons given | |
| Unanimous reasons by | The Court |
| Laws Applied | |
|
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s.7 Criminal Code, ss.14, 241(b) |
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Carter v Canada (Attorney General) is a landmark Supreme Court of Canada decision where the prohibition of assisted suicide was challenged as contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by several parties, including the family of Kay Carter, a woman suffering from degenerative spinal stenosis, and Gloria Taylor, a woman suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In a unanimous decision on February 6, 2015, the Court struck down the provision in the Criminal Code, giving Canadian adults who are mentally competent and suffering intolerably and enduringly the right to a doctor’s help in dying.
The court suspended its ruling for 12 months, with the decision taking effect in 2016, giving the government enough time to amend its laws. In January 2016 the court granted an additional 4-month extension to its ruling suspension to allow time for the newly elected Liberal government to consult with Canadians on drafting a law to comply with the ruling. As an interim measure, it also ruled that provincial courts can now begin approving applications for euthanasia until the new law passes.
In 1972, the Canadian government repealed the Criminal Code provision prohibiting suicide. However, 241(b) of the Criminal Code provided that everyone who aids or abets a person in committing suicide commits an indictable offence, and s. 14 stated that no person may consent to death being inflicted on them. The Supreme Court denied a right to assisted suicide in their 1993 ruling Rodriguez v British Columbia (AG), upholding the constitutionality of the prohibitions based upon a thin evidentiary record.
In April 2011, the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) filed a lawsuit challenging both s. 14 and section 241(b) of Criminal Code (law that prohibits aiding a person to commit suicide), claiming they violated sections 7 (the right to "life, liberty, and security of the person) and 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (equality).
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