‘A Message to the Standing Committee on Justice and Solicitor General’ by Sue Rodriguez

Sue Rodriguez was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 1991. Steadily losing her physical autonomy and foreseeing an unpleasant death if her illness was allowed to run its course, Sue wanted the legal right to an assisted death at a time of her choosing. Suicide was decriminalized in Canada in 1972, but it remained prohibited to counsel, abet, or aid an individual to die by suicide by section 241 of the Canadian Criminal Code. With the help of John Hofsess, founder of Canada’s Right to Die Society, Sue challenged this law in court. In doing so, she recorded this video statement, which was presented before a parliamentary committee on 24 November 1992. Sue’s lawyer argued that section 241 of the Criminal Code violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by unfairly subjecting those incapacitated by disability or illness to ‘cruel and unusual treatment or punishment’ and by denying them their right to ‘liberty and security.’ She lost her case before the British Columbia Supreme Court on 29 December 1992 and appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. On 30 September 1993, a 5-4 majority ruled against Sue, maintaining that the prohibition against assisted suicide did limit a Charter right, but that that limit was reasonable and justified because of the state’s investment in the sanctity of life and in the protection of the vulnerable. Regardless, Sue found an anonymous doctor to help her end her life in February 1994 with NDP MP Svend Robinson, who had become a friend and supporter, at her side. The identity of this doctor was never discovered.

Sue broadcast her personal story, raising public awareness about the assisted dying debate. Through her media appearances and the publicization of her case, she helped initiate a conversation about laws concerning assisted dying that continues to this day. Her story inspired films and books which portray her as a champion of the right-to-die cause. To her supporters, Sue Rodriguez was an important advocate for assisted dying laws in Canada. Her detractors, meanwhile, fear the touching nature of her individual experience constitutes a sensationalized argument in support of assisted dying laws that detracts from broader complexities of the assisted dying debate. In voicing these criticisms, they speak indirectly to the power of personal narratives to influence law-making. For instance, in a CBC segment from 1994, Liberal MP Don Boudria criticizes Sue’s recorded video statement as sensationalism, saying ‘normally they send a [parliamentary] brief, why is it not a brief this time but a video? Because a video in this particular case is going to have effect.'