Canada legalises physician-assisted dying

As we noted at the time, in Carter v Canada (Attorney General) 2015 SCC 5 the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the ban under s 241 (b) and  s 14 of the Canadian Criminal Code on aiding or abetting a person to commit suicide. Rather than merely striking down the existing law, however, the Court suspended the operation of its judgment for a year in order to allow Parliament time to produce properly-considered legislation, on the grounds that “Complex regulatory regimes are better created by Parliament than by the courts” [125]. Continue reading