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Montreal Gazette
12 hours ago
- General
- Montreal Gazette
Hanes: Bill 40 appeal shows the Legault government has learned nothing
By Whenever a new fracas erupts between the government of Premier François Legault and the anglophone community, Eric Girard, the minister responsible for relations with English-speaking Quebecers, is dispatched to try to patch things up. Recently, he admitted that new directives issued last summer that suggested eligibility certificates for education in English could be used to access health care in English were ' not our finest moment' and that he was 'disappointed' at how the whole saga played out. Previously, Girard acknowledged that tuition hikes for out-of-province students that disproportionately harmed Quebec's English universities had ruffled feathers, and he vowed to smooth things over. When he was appointed to the portfolio in 2022 after the angst surrounding the adoption of Bill 96, Quebec's update of protections for the French language, Girard promised to allay fears and 'do better.' 'When I say we need to do better, I mean we need to improve relations,' he told The Gazette back in the early days of his tenure. But time and again, these prove to be empty promises. Because actions speak louder than words. And even though it was less than a month ago that Girard called for the latest reset, the Legault government has demonstrated the depth of its contempt for the rights of English-speaking Quebecers anew by announcing its intention to appeal the latest ruling on Bill 40 all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada (if the top court agrees to hear it, that is). The attempt to abolish English school boards and replace them with service centres was one of the first bones of contention between the anglophone community and the Legault government after it was first elected in 2018. The Quebec English School Boards Association launched a constitutional challenge of the law immediately after its passage and has since won two resounding victories. Both Quebec Superior Court and the Quebec Court of Appeals have agreed that Bill 40 is a violation of Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and affirmed the rights of the English-speaking minority to manage and control its own schools. Both courts have categorically said that transforming school boards into service centres like their francophone counterparts, centralizing many of their decision-making powers in the ministry of education, and axing the elected councils of commissioners run counter to those constitutional guarantees. But the Legault government is forging ahead trying to defend the discredited law. At this point, there is no principled reason to drag this out — and no pragmatic imperative, either. Quebec's English school boards obtained an injunction in 2020, keeping them intact for the duration of the legal proceedings. For five years they have continued to operate as they always have, overseen by elected representatives from the community, alongside French service centres. At this point the government's argument that it can't have two different systems for running French and English schools doesn't really hold water. In fact, there is growing concern that francophone service centres, administered by parents drawn from local school governing boards, lack transparency and accountability. And since Bill 40 was adopted five years ago, Education Minister Bernard Drainville has grabbed even more authority from service centres, like the power to appoint their directors general and overturn their decisions. The English school boards have already proven their management and control rights — twice. But the Legault government just won't let it go. Are they gluttons for punishment? Or is this merely a continuation of the pattern of antagonizing the English-speaking community? So often over two mandates in office, the premier or his ministers say one thing and do another. Legault claimed nothing would change for anglophones under Bill 96, yet there has been major upheaval. English colleges now have quotas for francophone and allophone students and new French course requirements, which has left them destabilized. English versions of government and public websites now have warnings about who is allowed to consult the content, which is an insult to intelligence. English court documents and decisions must be accompanied by French translations, which are costly and time-consuming, impeding access to justice. And these are just a few examples. The rights of anglophones are either complete afterthought or collateral damage. A year ago, when new rules on simultaneous translation of court judgments came into effect, a Quebec Court judge on the verge of presiding over an English criminal trial had to convene representatives of the prosecution service and attorney general's office to get basic information on how this was supposed to work. He was essentially told there was no plan and things were still being figured out. For his efforts, he was the subject of a complaint to the judicial council for overstepping his authority. He was later totally exonerated. His decision declaring the new regulations inoperable for English criminal trials is being appealed, however. The list of slights goes on and on. Yet concerns are frequently dismissed as the rantings of 'angryphones' acting like the world's most spoiled minority — until the government gets egg on its face over something truly ludicrous. Whether it's having to intervene on the Go Habs Go fiasco, override a library's decision not to allow an English book club to meet without simultaneous translation or rewriting the confusing health directives, each incident erodes trust. If Girard was at all serious about wanting to rebuild confidence with English-speaking Quebecers, there was one, simple, concrete gesture the government could have made that would have gone a long way and meant a lot in laying the groundwork for a truce: not appealing the Bill 40 ruling to the Supreme Court. Instead, the Legault government couldn't resist fighting a losing battle to the bitter end.
The Province
20 hours ago
- The Province
B.C. son of woman who inspired assisted dying law chooses to die on his own terms
His mom's name is on the landmark Supreme Court of Canada case that gave Canadians the right to choose a medically assisted death just over a decade ago. Published Jun 02, 2025 • 5 minute read Price Carter, left, son of Kay Carter, in photo in foreground, pauses for a moment during a news conference at British Columbia Civil Liberties in Vancouver in 2016. Photo by JONATHAN HAYWARD / THE CANADIAN PRESS Price Carter is planning to die this summer. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors The 68-year-old Kelowna man has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He knows it will take his life eventually. Before it does, he intends to die on his own terms with his family at his side. 'I was told at the outset, 'This is palliative care, there is no cure for this.' So that made it easy,' he said from his home. Carter said he's always known that medical assistance in dying would be an option 'that I would exercise if I could, if needed to.' He has that option, in large part, because of his mother. Kay Carter's name is on the landmark Supreme Court of Canada case that gave Canadians the right to choose a medically assisted death just over a decade ago. Price has finished a first assessment and said he expects the second assessment deeming him eligible for the procedure to be completed this week. He spoke openly and calmly about his final days and his decision to end his life. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I'm at peace with this, I truly am, and I would have been years ago,' he said. It's been nearly a year since he first started experiencing symptoms and got a diagnosis. Until a couple of months ago, he said, he was swimming and rowing. He and his wife Danielle went golfing recently, playing best ball. 'She dragged me down that course,' he said with a laugh. But his energy is starting to fade. He knows how he wants the next step to unfold. It was more than 15 years ago that Price, along with his sisters Marie and Lee and his brother-in-law Hollis, surreptitiously made their way to Switzerland to be with their mother on her final day. The 89-year-old was living with spinal stenosis and chose to go to a non-profit facility that provided medically assisted death. She became the 10th Canadian to do so. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. At the time, assisted death was illegal in Canada. Kay Carter wrote a letter explaining her decision and her family helped draft a list of about 150 people to send it to after she died. She couldn't tell them her plans in advance because of the risk that Canadian authorities would try to stop her from going to Switzerland, or prosecute the family members who helped her. When she got to the Dignitas facility, she finalized the paperwork, settled in a bed and chased down the barbiturate that would stop her heart with Swiss chocolate. 'When she died, she just gently folded back,' Price said. After a few minutes, one of the attendants from the facility walked over to the door, 'and the curtains billow out, and she says, 'There, her spirit is free,'' he said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'If I was writing the movie, I wouldn't change that.' He said the memory makes him cry today, though not from sadness. The cancer, and the treatment, have made him emotional — the experience itself was beautiful. 'I wish for my children that they can see my death like I did my mom's,' he said. He said wants his wife, Danielle, and his kids to be there. His children — Lane, Grayson and Jenna — live in Ontario. They're all busy, he said, so when the time is right he'll try to find a date that works for everyone. For now, he's doing a lot of reading. 'I'm just gonna keep hanging on, day by day, and enjoying my Danielle.' The Carter family had a long road after Kay's death in January 2010. Her eldest daughter Lee was the driving force behind taking the case to the Supreme Court, which issued a unanimous decision in early 2015 that struck down sections of the Criminal Code that made it illegal to help someone end their life. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In 2016, the federal government passed legislation that created the country's regime for medical assistance in dying and made it legal for people whose deaths were 'reasonably foreseeable' to apply for an assessment. After a 2019 ruling in the Quebec Superior Court found it was unconstitutional to restrict assisted dying to people whose deaths were reasonably foreseeable, the Liberal government updated the law in 2021. That update included a controversial clause that would allow people suffering solely from a mental disorder to be considered eligible for an assisted death. The proposed change caused widespread worry among provinces and some mental health professionals, and has now been delayed until March 2027. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In the meantime, Health Canada has been studying what Canadians think of allowing people to ask for medical assistance in dying through an advance request. Advance requests would allow people with Alzheimer's, dementia, or other degenerative conditions to make the application and decide when they'd like to end their lives. Price Carter said that change 'is such a simple thing to do.' 'We're excluding a huge number of Canadians from a MAID option because they may have dementia and they won't be able to make that decision in three or four or two years. How frightening, how anxiety-inducing that would be,' he said. He admitted to feeling frustrated at the pace of change, though he said he knows his 'laissez-faire' attitude toward death is uncommon. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Helen Long, the president of Dying With Dignity Canada, said numerous federal consultations have shown there's broad support for advance requests dating back to 2016. 'We're continuing to advocate and ask our new government … to make advance requests legal for Canadians,' she said. Quebec has passed legislation to allow people with serious and incurable illnesses to apply through an advance request for a medically assisted death in the event that they become incapacitated. Marjorie Michel, who was recently named health minister in Prime Minister Mark Carney's new government, said it's a question of balance. 'It's so personal for people, and I think in some provinces they are not there yet,' she said. But when asked if the government plans to allow advance requests, she deferred to her colleague in the Justice Department. A spokesperson for Justice Minister Sean Fraser said Michel would be best positioned to respond. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Health Canada is set to release a report with the key findings from its consultations on the matter this spring. Medical assistance in dying is becoming more common in Canada. In 2023, the latest year for which national statistics are available, 19,660 people applied for the procedure and just over 15,300 people were approved. More than 95 per cent of those were people whose deaths were considered reasonably foreseeable. Price Carter said he wants to talk about his condition because he wants Canadians to talk about death, as uncomfortable as it is. 'The more conversations we can spawn around kitchen tables, the better,' he said. 'We're all going to die. It's part of the condition of living. And yet we do ignore this, to our peril.' Read More Vancouver Canucks Sports Vancouver Canucks Vancouver Whitecaps News
Vancouver Sun
a day ago
- Health
- Vancouver Sun
B.C. son of woman who inspired assisted dying law chooses to die on his own terms
Price Carter is planning to die this summer. The 68-year-old Kelowna man has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He knows it will take his life eventually. Before it does, he intends to die on his own terms with his family at his side. 'I was told at the outset, 'This is palliative care, there is no cure for this.' So that made it easy,' he said from his home. Carter said he's always known that medical assistance in dying would be an option 'that I would exercise if I could, if needed to.' Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. He has that option, in large part, because of his mother. Kay Carter's name is on the landmark Supreme Court of Canada case that gave Canadians the right to choose a medically assisted death just over a decade ago. Price has finished a first assessment and said he expects the second assessment deeming him eligible for the procedure to be completed this week. He spoke openly and calmly about his final days and his decision to end his life. 'I'm at peace with this, I truly am, and I would have been years ago,' he said. It's been nearly a year since he first started experiencing symptoms and got a diagnosis. Until a couple of months ago, he said, he was swimming and rowing. He and his wife Danielle went golfing recently, playing best ball. 'She dragged me down that course,' he said with a laugh. But his energy is starting to fade. He knows how he wants the next step to unfold. It was more than 15 years ago that Price, along with his sisters Marie and Lee and his brother-in-law Hollis, surreptitiously made their way to Switzerland to be with their mother on her final day. The 89-year-old was living with spinal stenosis and chose to go to a non-profit facility that provided medically assisted death. She became the 10th Canadian to do so. At the time, assisted death was illegal in Canada. Kay Carter wrote a letter explaining her decision and her family helped draft a list of about 150 people to send it to after she died. She couldn't tell them her plans in advance because of the risk that Canadian authorities would try to stop her from going to Switzerland, or prosecute the family members who helped her. When she got to the Dignitas facility, she finalized the paperwork, settled in a bed and chased down the barbiturate that would stop her heart with Swiss chocolate. 'When she died, she just gently folded back,' Price said. After a few minutes, one of the attendants from the facility walked over to the door, 'and the curtains billow out, and she says, 'There, her spirit is free,'' he said. 'If I was writing the movie, I wouldn't change that.' He said the memory makes him cry today, though not from sadness. The cancer, and the treatment, have made him emotional — the experience itself was beautiful. 'I wish for my children that they can see my death like I did my mom's,' he said. He said wants his wife, Danielle, and his kids to be there. His children — Lane, Grayson and Jenna — live in Ontario. They're all busy, he said, so when the time is right he'll try to find a date that works for everyone. For now, he's doing a lot of reading. 'I'm just gonna keep hanging on, day by day, and enjoying my Danielle.' The Carter family had a long road after Kay's death in January 2010. Her eldest daughter Lee was the driving force behind taking the case to the Supreme Court, which issued a unanimous decision in early 2015 that struck down sections of the Criminal Code that made it illegal to help someone end their life. In 2016, the federal government passed legislation that created the country's regime for medical assistance in dying and made it legal for people whose deaths were 'reasonably foreseeable' to apply for an assessment. After a 2019 ruling in the Quebec Superior Court found it was unconstitutional to restrict assisted dying to people whose deaths were reasonably foreseeable, the Liberal government updated the law in 2021. That update included a controversial clause that would allow people suffering solely from a mental disorder to be considered eligible for an assisted death. The proposed change caused widespread worry among provinces and some mental health professionals, and has now been delayed until March 2027. In the meantime, Health Canada has been studying what Canadians think of allowing people to ask for medical assistance in dying through an advance request. Advance requests would allow people with Alzheimer's, dementia, or other degenerative conditions to make the application and decide when they'd like to end their lives. Price Carter said that change 'is such a simple thing to do.' 'We're excluding a huge number of Canadians from a MAID option because they may have dementia and they won't be able to make that decision in three or four or two years. How frightening, how anxiety-inducing that would be,' he said. He admitted to feeling frustrated at the pace of change, though he said he knows his 'laissez-faire' attitude toward death is uncommon. Helen Long, the president of Dying With Dignity Canada, said numerous federal consultations have shown there's broad support for advance requests dating back to 2016. 'We're continuing to advocate and ask our new government … to make advance requests legal for Canadians,' she said. Quebec has passed legislation to allow people with serious and incurable illnesses to apply through an advance request for a medically assisted death in the event that they become incapacitated. Marjorie Michel, who was recently named health minister in Prime Minister Mark Carney's new government, said it's a question of balance. 'It's so personal for people, and I think in some provinces they are not there yet,' she said. But when asked if the government plans to allow advance requests, she deferred to her colleague in the Justice Department. A spokesperson for Justice Minister Sean Fraser said Michel would be best positioned to respond. Health Canada is set to release a report with the key findings from its consultations on the matter this spring. Medical assistance in dying is becoming more common in Canada. In 2023, the latest year for which national statistics are available, 19,660 people applied for the procedure and just over 15,300 people were approved. More than 95 per cent of those were people whose deaths were considered reasonably foreseeable. Price Carter said he wants to talk about his condition because he wants Canadians to talk about death, as uncomfortable as it is. 'The more conversations we can spawn around kitchen tables, the better,' he said. 'We're all going to die. It's part of the condition of living. And yet we do ignore this, to our peril.'
Vancouver Sun
2 days ago
- Health
- Vancouver Sun
Son MAiD pioneer Kay Carter plans assisted death after terminal cancer diagnosis
Price Carter is planning to die this summer. The 68-year-old has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He knows it will take his life eventually; before it does, he intends to die on his own terms with his family at his side. 'I was told at the outset, 'This is palliative care, there is no cure for this.' So that made it easy,' he said in an interview from his home in Kelowna, B.C. Carter said he's always known that medical assistance in dying would be an option 'that I would exercise if I could, if needed to.' Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. He has that option, in large part, because of his mother. Kay Carter's name is on the landmark Supreme Court of Canada case that gave Canadians the right to choose a medically assisted death just over a decade ago. Price has finished a first assessment and said he expects the second assessment deeming him eligible for the procedure to be completed this week. He spoke openly and calmly about his final days and his decision to end his life. 'I'm at peace with this, I truly am, and I would have been years ago,' he said. It's been nearly a year since he first started experiencing symptoms and got a diagnosis. Until a couple of months ago, he said, he was swimming and rowing. He and his wife Danielle went golfing recently, playing best ball. 'She dragged me down that course,' he said with a laugh. But his energy is starting to fade. He knows how he wants the next step to unfold. It was more than 15 years ago that Price, along with his sisters Marie and Lee and his brother-in-law Hollis, surreptitiously made their way to Switzerland to be with their mother on her final day. The 89-year-old was living with spinal stenosis and chose to go to a non-profit facility that provided medically assisted death. She became the 10th Canadian to do so. At the time, assisted death was illegal in Canada. Kay Carter wrote a letter explaining her decision and her family helped draft a list of about 150 people to send it to after she died. She couldn't tell them her plans in advance because of the risk that Canadian authorities would try to stop her from going to Switzerland, or prosecute the family members who helped her. When she got to the Dignitas facility, she finalized the paperwork, settled in a bed and chased down the barbiturate that would stop her heart with Swiss chocolate. 'When she died, she just gently folded back,' Price said. After a few minutes, one of the attendants from the facility walked over to the door, 'and the curtains billow out, and she says, 'There, her spirit is free,'' he said. 'If I was writing the movie, I wouldn't change that.' He said the memory makes him cry today, though not from sadness. The cancer, and the treatment, have made him emotional — the experience itself was beautiful. 'I wish for my children that they can see my death like I did my mom's,' he said. He said wants his wife, Danielle, and his kids to be there. His children — Lane, Grayson and Jenna — live in Ontario. They're all busy, he said, so when the time is right he'll try to find a date that works for everyone. For now, he's doing a lot of reading. 'I'm just gonna keep hanging on, day by day, and enjoying my Danielle.' We're all going to die. It's part of the condition of living. The Carter family had a long road after Kay's death in January 2010. Her eldest daughter Lee was the driving force behind taking the case to the Supreme Court, which issued a unanimous decision in early 2015 that struck down sections of the Criminal Code that made it illegal to help someone end their life. In 2016, the federal government passed legislation that created the country's regime for medical assistance in dying and made it legal for people whose deaths were 'reasonably foreseeable' to apply for an assessment. After a 2019 ruling in the Quebec Superior Court found it was unconstitutional to restrict assisted dying to people whose deaths were reasonably foreseeable, the Liberal government updated the law in 2021. That update included a controversial clause that would allow people suffering solely from a mental disorder to be considered eligible for an assisted death. The proposed change caused widespread worry among provinces and some mental health professionals, and has now been delayed until March 2027. In the meantime, Health Canada has been studying what Canadians think of allowing people to ask for medical assistance in dying through an advance request. Advance requests would allow people with Alzheimer's, dementia, or other degenerative conditions to make the application and decide when they'd like to end their lives. Price Carter said that change 'is such a simple thing to do.' 'We're excluding a huge number of Canadians from a MAID option because they may have dementia and they won't be able to make that decision in three or four or two years. How frightening, how anxiety-inducing that would be,' he said. He admitted to feeling frustrated at the pace of change, though he said he knows his 'laissez-faire' attitude toward death is uncommon. Helen Long, the president of Dying With Dignity Canada, said numerous federal consultations have shown there's broad support for advance requests dating back to 2016. 'We're continuing to advocate and ask our new government … to make advance requests legal for Canadians,' she said. Quebec has passed legislation to allow people with serious and incurable illnesses to apply for a medically assisted death in the event that they become incapacitated through an advance request. Marjorie Michel, who was recently named health minister in Prime Minister Mark Carney's new government, said in an interview that it's a question of balance. 'It's so personal for people, and I think in some provinces they are not there yet,' she said. But when asked if the government plans to allow advance requests, she deferred to her colleague in the Justice Department. A spokesperson for Justice Minister Sean Fraser said Michel would be best positioned to respond. Health Canada is set to release a report with the key findings from its consultations on the matter this spring. Medical assistance in dying is becoming more common in Canada. In 2023, the latest year for which national statistics are available, 19,660 people applied for the procedure and just over 15,300 people were approved. More than 95 per cent of those were people whose deaths were considered reasonably foreseeable. Price Carter said he wants to talk about his condition because he wants Canadians to talk about death, as uncomfortable as it is. 'The more conversations we can spawn around kitchen tables, the better,' he said. 'We're all going to die. It's part of the condition of living. And yet we do ignore this, to our peril.' Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
Edmonton Journal
2 days ago
- Health
- Edmonton Journal
Son MAiD pioneer Kay Carter plans assisted death after terminal cancer diagnosis
Article content Carter said he's always known that medical assistance in dying would be an option 'that I would exercise if I could, if needed to.' He has that option, in large part, because of his mother. Kay Carter's name is on the landmark Supreme Court of Canada case that gave Canadians the right to choose a medically assisted death just over a decade ago. Price has finished a first assessment and said he expects the second assessment deeming him eligible for the procedure to be completed this week. He spoke openly and calmly about his final days and his decision to end his life. 'I'm at peace with this, I truly am, and I would have been years ago,' he said. It's been nearly a year since he first started experiencing symptoms and got a diagnosis. Until a couple of months ago, he said, he was swimming and rowing. He and his wife Danielle went golfing recently, playing best ball.
