Desmond Tutu Backs Assisted Dying

Archbishop Desmond Tutu wants the option of assisted dying and is urging his government to implement such a law. The 85-year old cleric and legendary anti-apartheid activist believes all dying people should be able to chose death with dignity.

“With my life closer to its end than its beginning, I wish to help give people dignity in dying,” he wrote in the Washington Post.

“Just as I have argued firmly for compassion and fairness in life, I believe that terminally ill people should be treated with the same compassion and fairness when it comes to their deaths,” he added.

“Dying people should have the right to choose how and when they leave Mother Earth. I believe that, alongside the wonderful palliative care that exists, their choices should include a dignified assisted death.”

Tutu had changed his mind over assisted suicide two years ago after a lifelong opposition but had remained ambiguous about whether he personally would choose such a death.

He said: “Today, I myself am even closer to the departures hall than arrivals, so to speak, and my thoughts turn to how I would like to be treated when the time comes. Now more than ever, I feel compelled to lend my voice to this cause.”

He believed in the sanctity of life but also that terminally ill people should not be forced to endure terrible pain and suffering, he wrote. Instead they should have control over the manner and timing of their death.

The Senate of Canada - Back on the Job.

To some they're still unelected meddlers who should just sit down and rubber stamp the government's assisted dying law, just as they would have done during the Harper "shut up and do what I say, when I say it" era.

That's not their job. Freed from the yoke of an iron fisted prime minister, the Senate is doing its job. It is providing "sober second thought" to the massively flawed Liberal assisted dying bill.

Unlike the prime minister and his cabinet, the senators can understand the plain words of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Carter decision. They understand the rule of law. They realize that Charter protections aren't something the government can withdraw or rescind to suit political expedience. They know it's not their job to look the other way and pass unconstitutional bills.

And so the Senate is doing its job. Our senators are amending the flawed legislation to bring it into accordance with the law of the land. Justice minister Jody doesn't much like that. She thinks her bill appropriately compromises the Charter protections of the terminally ill. She thinks that Charter rights are something for the government to manipulate, to "balance" as it deems politically expedient.

The Senate has already passed one amendment to the bill. More are in the works. It's probably best to review them at the end when we can see what the law should look like. For now, however, they seem to be doing precisely what Canada's senators are supposed to be doing.

Update:

Here's how Chantal Hebert sees the Senate:

As counterintuitive as it may seem, a more independent Senate may force more democracy (and collegiality) on the House of Commons: What is certain is that Bill C-14 gave the maligned upper house a much-needed opportunity to shine in a capacity other than that of parliamentary villain. The high calibre of its deliberations confounded many of its critics.

For the first time in years, the upper house earned some truly positive coverage.

It is early days but, based on the assisted-death debate, it is possible to postulate that the more the Liberal government uses its majority to truncate debate in the Commons, the more scrutiny it can expect in the Senate. To earn the respect of a less partisan upper house, the government may have to show more respect to due process in the House of Commons.

Amen.