Sue Rodriguez

In this videotaped address to Parliament, Sue Rodriguez, who was dying of ALS and wanted an assisted death, asks ‘If I cannot give consent to my own death […] who owns my life?’ While the Supreme Court of Canada heard her case in 1993 and ultimately decided against her, the publicization of Rodriguez’s story informed much public thinking about assisted dying laws in Canada.

La Maison Simons, Broken Heart Love Affair

The advertisement All is Beauty depicts in a positive light the final days of a woman’s life prior to her choosing to receive an assisted death. It was, however, pulled after news reports revealed that the protagonist had been vocal about the lack of support for her illness, and how this influenced her desire for an assisted death.

Audrey Parker

In this video statement, Audrey Parker appeals to Canadians to have the MAID laws in place in 2018 changed. Parker felt that she was obliged to receive MAID earlier than necessary due to her fear that she would lose the ability to provide late-stage consent, one of the law’s original stipulations. Audrey’s Amendment was introduced in 2021 eliminating the requirement of late-stage consent.

Canadian Partnership Against Cancer

Donald Low, a Canadian physician and microbiologist, records a plea in favour of medical aid in dying after he was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Sophia (pseudonym)

In this video statement, Sophia describes her struggle to find suitable housing for her multiple chemical sensitivities shortly before her medically assisted death. The video became a touchstone in disability rights discourse for activists arguing that Canada’s medical assistance in dying regime lacks sufficient safeguards to protect vulnerable people.