VANCOUVER -- Angelina Ireland first learned about Delta Hospice five years ago.

The operators of a small hospice outside of Vancouver are standing like David against a government Goliath in a showdown to block assisted suicide and euthanasia from crossing their threshold. We support their cause and applaud their courage.

Ontario’s palliative care doctors are warning that the government is not ready for “an imminent spike in the number of people facing end-of-life.”

If vacations, weddings, babies and football games are important enough to require planning, why don’t we plan for sickness, frailty and dying?

The grim truth is that legalized euthanasia is not going away. This is not giving up but stating a hard truth. 

SURREY, B.C. – Assisted suicide was legalized just over a year ago, but the debate is far from over.

This past fall, my mother received a call from the care home in Yorkton, Sask., where her eldest sister was a resident. My mother was informed that her sister had taken a turn in health and there likely wasn’t much time left. 

Rather than fighting to change the system which imposes euthanasia, health care professional bioethicist Bob Parke wants to create a private hospice that bans assisted killing and where dying will only come the natural way.

If there is an issue that unites most politicians, health workers, social agencies and religious leaders, it is the urgent need for a bold strategy and major investment in palliative and hospice care.