BULLETIN: B.C. Court of Appeal’s decision in Carter v. Canada to be released today

On June 15, 2012, Justice Smith of the British Columbia Supreme Court effectively created an exception to the Criminal Code to allow for physician-assisted suicide. The trial judgement Carter v. Canada (Attorney General) was discussed briefly in a previous post on The Court.

Justice Smith gave Parliament a year to amend the laws surrounding assisted suicide, and the Government of Canada appealed the decision within that year. The appeal was heard by the B.C. Court of Appeal from March 18 to March 22, 2013. Today, the Court of Appeal will be releasing its decision to the public.

Lawyers for the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and two of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit will speak publicly about the judgement at noon (Eastern Time) outside the courthouse, and lead counsel in Toronto will be conducting media interviews beginning at around the same time.

An analysis of the appellate judgement will be published shortly thereafter on thecourt.ca.