It is up to the province to decide if cases of euthanasia and assisted suicide are prosecuted, even though they are illegal under the Canadian criminal code. In the U.K., disabled people are frightened by new prosecution guidelines issued in that country.

In Canada, if the current bill before parliament, Bill C-384, is defeated, and euthanasia and assisted suicide remain illegal, the province could effectively weaken the law by refraining from prosecuting. The history of prosecutions in Canada for assisted suicide shows that often sentences are light.

Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, told a Hamilton Right to Life gathering in late February that the provincial Ministry of the Attorney General has the responsibility to issue prosecution guidelines and to decide which offences will be prosecuted under what conditions.

“The federal law probably won’t change, but the province could decide to prosecute only in severe cases,” Alex said. He added that in the United Kingdom, where assisted suicide is also illegal, the U.K. Director of Public Prosecutions has stated that charges would not be laid if the suicide were assisted by a family member or someone caring for a person with severe disabilities.

The U.K. Director has issued a “Policy for Prosecutors” which states that prosecution is “less likely to be required” if any of a set of criteria is met, including if:

• “the suspect (i.e., the person accused of assisting the suicide) was wholly motivated by compassion”;
• “the suspect had sought to dissuade the victim (i.e., the person who committed suicide) from taking the course of action which resulted in his or her suicide”; or
• “the actions of the suspect may be characterised as reluctant encouragement or assistance in the face of a determined wish on the part of the victim to commit suicide.”

The “suspect” also has to report the suicide to fully cooperate with the police.

This weakens or even destroys any teeth the law might have. The suspect only has to claim that he or she acted solely out of compassion, had tried to dissuade the victim or had assisted only reluctantly.

“It will not be easy to determine motive when the main witness in the case is dead,” the BBC’s legal affairs analyst Clive Coleman wrote in an analysis.

Richard Hawkes, chief executive of Scope, a charity devoted to people with cerebral palsy, told the BBC that: “Many disabled people are frightened by the consequences of these new guidelines and with good reason. There is a real danger these changes will result in disabled people being pressured to end their lives.”

The bill before the Canadian parliament does not require a witness to be present at the time of death. “Who’s to say that at the time of death a person wanted to be killed by a pill?” Alex asked.

Assisted Suicide Cases in Canada

 In Canada, recent cases show a tendency to be lenient:

• 1994: BC: Sue Rodriguez, diagnosed with ALS, and denied permission through the courts to request assistance in committing suicide, committed suicide in the presence of Svend Robinson, then an NDP MP. No charges were laid.
• 1994, Alberta: Robert Cashin provided a large dose of sedatives to his mother, who was dying of cancer. He pleaded guilty to administering a noxious substance and was sentenced to two years probation.
• 1995: Nova Scotia: Brenda Barnes wrote a suicide note and provided a syringe to help Mary Jane Fogarty commit suicide by injecting herself with insulin. She was found guilty and given a suspended sentence.
• 1998: Ontario: Maurice Genereux prescribed barbiturates for two HIV positive men to use to attempt suicide. He was found guilty and sentenced to two years less a day.
• 1999, Ontario: Wayne Hussey, who test-fired the gun his father used to kill himself, was found not guilty.
• 2002, BC: Julianna Zsiros showed her housemate how to start a car and helped ensure a garage was airtight so that her housemate could kill herself by carbon monoxide poisoning. She was found guilty and given a suspended sentence.
• 2005, Quebec: André Bergeron was charged with attempted murder of his spouse Marielle Houle, who had a progressive disease of the nervous system. He had tried to asphyxiate her with a plastic bag and when it failed he contacted authorities. His defence lawyer claimed he should be charged with assisting suicide. He was found guilty of aggravated assault and received a three year suspended sentence.
• 2006, Quebec: Stéphan Dufour was charged with helping his, Chantal Maltais, who had severe complications from polio, hang himself. He was acquitted by a jury.
• 2007, BC: Dr. Ramesh Kumar Sharma was found guilty of aiding the suicide of 93-year old Ruth Wolfe, who suffered from heart problems, by prescribing her a fatal dose of drugs. He received a conditional sentence of two years less a day to be served in the community. His licence was revoked by the B.C. College of Physicians & Surgeons.
• 2007: the RCMP decided not to lay charges in the assisted suicide of Elizabeth MacDonald, a Canadian with multiple sclerosis who died in Switzerland with the assistance of the organization Dignitas. Her husband, Eric MacDonald, was with her when she died. The RCMP said no infraction was committed in Canada.