About

“End-of-Life Law and Policy in Canada” is a website designed to serve as a source of information for the public, healthcare providers, the media, and policy-makers.  On this site, we provide information on the withholding and withdrawal of potentially life-sustaining treatment, advance directives, palliative interventions (e.g., potentially life-shortening symptom relief and palliative sedation), assisted suicide, and euthanasia.  Our goal is to contribute to understanding of and participation in public policy debates about some of the most pressing issues of our time – how ought we to care for the dying.

This website is maintained by Jocelyn Downie, Professor of Law and Medicine at Dalhousie University with the support of the Dalhousie Health Law Institute.  It draws upon materials originally created for the Dalhousie End-of-Life Project, which was an educational research project involving members of the Health Law Institute and their colleagues across the country.  The team members were: Jocelyn Downie, Fiona Bergin, Karen McEwen, Jeanette Auger, Kim Kierans, Joan Neiman, and Graeme Rocker.  The project was funded by the Max Bell Foundation and the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation.

This site includes updated materials taken from The End-of-Life Project and new sections on palliative sedation, assisted suicide, and euthanasia.