In recent years several developed Western countries have witnessed radical and disturbing changes to the law on assisted dying. The rapidly expanding category of legal justifications for euthanasia - in some cases including non-medical conditions such as financial hardship or limited access to housing - has led to a dramatic corrosion of human dignity and a disturbing cheapening of human life.

Nowhere are these troubling developments more evident than in Canada, a country with which Britain shares such a great historical, cultural, constitutional, and legal inheritance. In Canada the elderly, the poor, the depressed, the too-costly-to-treat, and the mentally ill are being treated in ways previously unimaginable in a liberal democracy.

To help us navigate these developments we are fortunate to be joined by Dr Yuan Yi Zhu and Rev Dr Andrew Bennett.

Yuan is Assistant Professor of International Relations and International Law at Leiden University to speak to us for our last in person event of the term on Tuesday 13 June at 6:30pm. Yuan will be sharing his insights and perspective on recent developments surrounding assisted dying, beginning with Canada’s new legal regime of ‘Medical Assistance in Dying’ (“MAiD”) and exploring the ramifications of MAiD for renewed calls to liberalise laws on assisted dying in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.

Fr Andrew is Program Director for Cardus Law. He is an ordained deacon in the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in the Eparchy (Diocese) of Toronto and Eastern Canada. He served as Canada’s first Ambassador for Religious Freedom and Head of the Office of Religious Freedom from 2013 to 2016 during which time he led in defending and championing religious freedom internationally as a core element of Canada’s principled foreign policy.

I hope you will be able to join us to discuss the many difficult issues arising from these recent developments in Canada and elsewhere in order to grasp their ramifications for those countries, including the United Kingdom, that have not yet liberalised their laws on assisted dying.

The event will begin at 6:30pm in the Chapel at Pusey House on St Giles and will be followed by a reception with drinks and canapés in the Hood Room.

Euthanasia and The End of Dignity: Lessons from Canada