"Whose life is it, anyway?- These were the words of the late Sue Rodriguez during her battle with the Supreme Court of Canada to legalize doctor-assisted suicide. In one of the most intense issues debated in Canada over the past two decades, assisted suicide, also known as euthanasia, has been brought up through cases in courts and the ever-pressuring organizations related to euthanasia. Currently, many organizations and individuals supporting euthanasia are arguing and demanding for this euthanasia law to be legalized. Although there are many arguments surrounding the support of euthanasia, it still must not be performed in Canada. .
Euthanasia continues to be stated in the Criminal Code as the deliberate taking of a human life even though many believe it is considered "compassionate killing-. Thus, it violates Section 7 of the Charter's right to life. In addition, the Supreme Court has also ruled in Sue Rodriguez's trial in 1993 that, "although other sections of the Charter are infringed due to prohibiting euthanasia, the law against assisted suicide is in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice- . Finally, if assisted suicide were to be legalized, severe consequences may arise. Doctors may abuse this power and kill a patient without their consent. Furthermore, there is always the possibility of an incorrect diagnosis of a patient, a curable problem such as depression, or a new cure that is discovered from the world of medicine. Based on these arguments, it is simple to state that euthanasia cannot cure any person or solve any problems, and should continue to be a crime in Canada.
In Canada today, assisted suicide and euthanasia are illegal under the Criminal Code and both these laws should be kept that way. Section 222(1) of the Criminal Code states that, "A person commits homicide when, directly or indirectly by any means causes the death of a human being-. Also in Section 224, its states "Where a person, by an act of omission does anything that results in the death of a human being, he causes the death for that human being notwithstanding the death of that human being might have been prevented by resorting to proper means-.
