The debate over assisted suicide is reaching its zenith: The Supreme Court of Canada is now hearing an appeal that could allow dying but mentally competent Canadians to receive medical assistance to hasten death. If it’s successful, that appeal would overturn a ruling that our highest court made two decades ago, when its judges narrowly upheld the law. Prepare yourself for one of the most important decisions the court will make this year by finding out the answers to the questions around the big question: whether Canadians have the right to choose to die.

ASSISTED SUICIDE

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  IS THE SUPREME COURT THE RIGHT PLACE FOR THIS DEBATE?
  Emmett Macfarlane tackles the whys and wherefores of the case.

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  WHY DID A CANADIAN HAVE TO GO TO SWITZERLAND TO DIE?
  A Q&A with Lee Carter and her husband about Lee’s mother Kathleen, who died in a Swiss clinic, and whose case is part of the Supreme Court appeal.

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  WHERE DOES RELIGION FIT INTO THE CONVERSATION?
  Brian Bethune explores the moral quandary of the debate.

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  SHOULD DOCTORS BE DOLING OUT KILLING DOSES?
  Colby Cosh asks whether we should trust physicians to be saints.

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  WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO PULL THE PLUG?
  Kate Lunau examines the case of Hassan Rasouli, whose family won a Supreme Court decision to prevent doctors from withdrawing life support.

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  WHO IS THE PARLIAMENTARY ADVOCATE?
  Cormac McCarthy talks to MP Steven Fletcher, whose experiences give him a personal stake in the debate.

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  WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO DIE?
  Ken MacQueen speaks to Bernice Packford, who chose to take her own life in 2010.

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  WHERE IN CANADA IS THIS ALREADY LEGAL?
  Martin Patriquin takes a closer look at how Quebec became the first and only province to legally allow doctors to deliver lethal injections.