ARCH’s contribution to “Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) in Canada: Key Multidisciplinary Perspectives”

July 25, 2023

Abstract
In international law, the right to life has been described as the most fundamental human right, without which other core human rights cannot be enjoyed. This chapter explores the right to life, together with the right to equality, with a focus on three international instruments; two United Nations treaties, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and a regional treaty for the Americas, the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man. This Chapter analyzes Canada’s MAiD legislation from a disability rights perspective, within the context of the right to life and the right to equality as understood in these international instruments. It reviews implications for Canadian government, policy and lawmaking.

Kerri Joffe & Roberto Lattanzio, “Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying Law and the Rights to Life and Equality at International Law” in Jaro Kotalik & David W. Shannon, eds, Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) in Canada (Cham: Springer, 2023), ch 23 at 355