OTTAWA – As euthanasia and assisted suicide became legal in Canada opponents vowed to continue the fight to protect conscience rights of health-care workers and Catholic institutions and to oppose inevitable court challenges to widen the net of assisted killing.

Editor’s note: Toronto’s Cardinal Thomas Collins has long been a voice in the fight against assisted suicide in Canada. Following the passing of Bill-C-14 to legalize the process, the cardinal released the following statement on the bill’s passing.

OTTAWA – The Senate has voted to accept more restrictive access to assisted suicide.

The prevailing legal vacuum around assisted suicide is unacceptable and begs a speedy end to the head-butting between the elected House of Commons and the unelected Senate — even if that means politicians forgoing summer vacations.

OTTAWA – The Liberal government today said it will reject a Senate amendment that would remove the requirement that death be reasonably foreseeable from its assisted suicide bill.

OTTAWA – Canada’s Senate passed an amended version of euthanasia and assisted suicide Bill C-14 June 15 that is almost certain to face backlash from elected Parliamentarians as it is sent back to the House of Commons.

OTTAWA – The Senate has put itself on a collision course with the House of Commons after it voted to amend the government’s assisted-suicide bill to include people who may not be facing imminent death.

OTTAWA – Catholic, Evangelical, Jewish and Muslim faith leaders united on Parliament Hill June 14 to issue a joint call for a well-funded, quality national palliative care strategy.

VATICAN CITY – Growing acceptance of euthanasia does not indicate increased compassion, but highlights the rise of a selfish "throwaway culture" that casts aside the sick, the dying and those who do not satisfy the perceived requirements of a healthy life, Pope Francis said. 

LOS ANGELES – With California now allowing doctors to prescribe lethal medications for terminally ill patients who ask for them, "we are crossing a line," said the archbishop of Los Angeles.

Whether it’s to protect consciences or vulnerable patients, the best hope for limiting the scope of assisted suicide in Canada now is a “robust third party option for all end-of-life care issues,” said Sr. Nuala Kenny as Bill C-14 wended its way from the House of Commons and through the Senate.

Autonomy has evolved into a word of frightful power. Its meaning now goes beyond such independent actions as choosing a spouse, following a career path or adopting a style of fashion. It surpasses political views and for many has become a one-word mantra for a new religion called secularism, in which God is replaced by putting “me” at the centre of the universe. 

With no law in place to govern assisted suicide, physicians and vulnerable patients face uncertainty, confusion and more opinions than facts.

OTTAWA – Canada awoke to a new dawn of assisted suicide on June 7 as a Supreme Court deadline passed and government legislation to legalize doctor-assisted death was stuck in the Senate.

Somewhere in California on Thursday, June 9, a gravely ill person may lift a glass and drink a lethal slurry of pulverized prescription pills dissolved in water.