Article content

Federal Liberals have passed a controversial resolution calling for the de-criminalization of medically-assisted suicide during their policy convention here Sunday.

The resolution is timely as Quebec is on the verge of adopting a law to the same effect, while the Supreme Court of Canada has said it will revisit the matter for the first time in more than 20 years.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Liberals vote to legalize assisted suicide at party’s national convention Back to video

Yet it is also extremely divisive, as evidenced by the number of Liberal delegates who wanted to speak on either side of the issue before the matter went to a vote.

“We share the concerns of the most vulnerable populations, especially people in the disability community,” said Liberal delegate Wendy Robbins, who spoke in favour of the resolution. “It covers health, it covers justice. We think we have the right to die with dignity.”

At the same time, a number of delegates opposed to the issue said the priority should be better palliative care and ensuring people die in comfort.