Euthanasia in the Canadian Context: How Experience of Death Shapes Moral Views of Medically-Assisted Dying in Canada

In the past few decades, forms of voluntary euthanasia (physician-assisted suicide, for example) have become legal in jurisdictions in Europe (Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland), the United States (Oregon) and more recently, in Canada. Concomitant with this legal change, and perhaps preceding it, moral support for the practice has increased, both within jurisdictions where it remains legal, and those in which it remains prohibited. Nevertheless, our understanding of the social processes through which people come to support voluntary euthanasia practices is limited. While scholars have hypothesized increased education, declining religiosity, and a culture focused on individual autonomy as explanations of why voluntary euthanasia has become more widely accepted in recent years, there is a lack of process-based, micro-level explanations of this support. Explanations of the processes whereby a person’s moral support of voluntary euthanasia is motivated directly by the loss of a loved one are missing. How does the experience of death and bereavement shape laypeople’s views of medically-assisted death? In this paper, the author presents preliminary findings of ongoing research on support for physician-assisted dying in the Canadian context. In Canada, medically-assisted death was legalized in 2016. The author presents findings of interviews with volunteers in a variety of pro-euthanasia organizations in Canada. The interviews suggest that in Canada, support for euthanasia is shaped by the experience of moral dilemmas over the course of care, particularly when close relatives and friends are asked to make critical decisions on behalf of a dying person. In terms of social processes, the author explores the idea that the experience of autonomy is shaped by the legal, institutional and relational contexts of death, contexts that individuals navigate as they try to ensure a dignified death for the people they care for.