Death's rules
The Supreme Court's ruling on assisted suicide will also change how I talk to my patients about death (Death's Failings – letters, Dec. 11). I'll need to reassure them I will only work for their life, not their death; I will need to advise them to take measures to protect themselves from others who might benefit from their death.
I have a Dutch patient whose older family members are fearful of going to hospital lest they be convinced it is better for them to die than be treated.
This is not a new freedom that the court has given us: It will become a duty to die for some.
David Loewen, MD, Calgary
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I speak from experience when I applaud the Supreme Court's decision. In 2008, my husband peacefully ended his own life. He was 76 and suffered from ALS.
If assisted dying had been legal then, we would have enjoyed the following priceless benefits:
Bill would have lived longer. He had to act while he still had the capacity to do everything himself;
He would not have had to make decisions and take action alone. He was acutely aware of criminal prosecution for assistance;
Professional medical expertise would have been present at his death. The thought of his failed death was unbearable;
There would have been no police interrogation. The investigation began a few minutes after his death and lasted almost four hours. Normal leave-taking was impossible.
Assisted dying with appropriate safeguards should be a choice.
Valerie Kennett, Perth, Ont.
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Now that the Supreme Court has directed the federal government to draft a new law on assisted suicide, nurses want to offer a set of principles that will help frame the conversation on this issue and ensure they are reflected in legislation Ottawa creates.
Nurses play a critical role in end-of-life care. We are the ones at the bedside, witnessing the emotional and physical suffering of the terminally ill. That's why the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario approved a resolution last year that offers the following principles for consideration:
Personal autonomy and justice are fundamental;
Timely access to universal, evidence-based palliative care must be a priority;
Procedural safeguards must be enacted that restrict assisted suicide and/or euthanasia to competent adults with a terminal illness;
Procedural safeguards must ensure the person seeking to end his/her life is subject to a thorough review process that includes: confirmation of a terminal illness, determination of capacity by a mental-health professional, provision of access to all reasonable alternatives, and an established waiting period that allows people to carefully consider their decision;
The practice of assisted suicide and/or voluntary active euthanasia must be restricted to professionals with designated education and training;
No health professional or organization should be obliged to participate in assisted suicide and/or voluntary active euthanasia;
A provincial monitoring and reporting system must be developed, including a process for responding to complaints.
Vanessa Burkoski, president, Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario
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Art as 'proof'?
As a qualified art historian, I can wholeheartedly offer my services pro bono to newly named judge Kirk Munroe (Defence Lawyer Who Wanted To Use 15th-Century Art In Court Named Judge – Feb. 11). I can supply visual/historical "proof" of such felonies as: torture to procure confession, banishment, prosecution of homosexuals, burning at the stake, beating wives, disowning children – the list is endless. Please let me know.
Srebrenka Bogovic-Zeskoski, Toronto
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In praise of Pearson
Each time I see our Maple Leaf flag fluttering in the breeze, I say "thank you" to Lester Pearson, the prime minister who was successful in his efforts to have the design approved by Parliament.
This Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the first time the flag was officially flown on Parliament Hill on Feb. 15, 1965. Why is the government not properly recognizing Mr. Pearson's pivotal role in our flag's history? Is it because he was a Liberal?
Margaret Kuhr, Victoria
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Green starts here
Re Medicare Won't Fix Climate Change (Feb. 11): Jeffrey Simpson's critique of Justin Trudeau's plan for a national climate change program doesn't acknowledge that our current approach is far worse. Given that the provinces own the energy resources and will never pass the file over to the federal government, like it or not, Canadian climate policy will inevitably be a mix of federal and provincial action.
That is what we have now, but with each government acting alone, without regard to what other governments are doing. This means emission increases in oil-producing provinces undercut reductions by other provinces, such as the B.C. carbon tax or Ontario's coal phase-out. Federal and provincial climate policies must be co-ordinated and Mr. Trudeau's plan for a meeting of first ministers is a good place to start.
Douglas Macdonald, senior lecturer, School of the Environment, University of Toronto
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Below the surface
Re Canadian Companies Go Their Own Way In Africa (Report on Business, Feb. 11): The president of Vancouver-based Sunridge Gold Corp. describes Eritrea as a stable country with good mining laws, "safe and there's no corruption or petty theft." Maybe if he were to visit the Asayita Refugee Camp in Ethiopia, as I did in 2012, he might change his mind.
I was part of a group recording depositions by Afar tribespeople whose families had been systematically murdered in order to make way for international mining interests. One of the people who spoke to us was punished for doing so with the torture and murder of his father by the Eritrean military. Another refugee was forced to watch as 16 members of her family were executed.
This material has been presented to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and accepted as evidence.
The Eritrean government has been extorting members of the diaspora (a "diaspora tax"), and in 2013 the Canadian government expelled the Eritrean Consul-General in protest of this practice, which by many accounts continues today.
Chris Mullington, Ottawa
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Las Vegas Leafs
Cathal Kelly is correct that hockey in Las Vegas will be a hard sell (Hot, Depressing Las Vegas Wants An NHL Team – Sports, Feb. 11).
A cirque-like solution is necessary. Relocate an iconic Canadian brand, the Toronto Maple Leafs, to the desert. Maybe rename them the Tumbleweeds. If they win, good for them. If they continue to lose, at least nobody cares.
Give Toronto an expansion franchise and end 48 years of suffering.
David Pelz, Lorne Parnes, London, Ont.