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.

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.