{"id":38512,"date":"2025-05-22T15:12:36","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T19:12:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/?p=38512"},"modified":"2026-04-13T11:53:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T15:53:39","slug":"providence-intervention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/cccc\/2025\/05\/22\/providence-intervention\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting Conscience Rights: CCCC to Intervene in BC Euthanasia Case"},"content":{"rendered":"
This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Conscience Intervention<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

In April 2025, CCCC was granted intervenor status in a landmark case that asks: Can a religious healthcare institution be compelled to perform euthanasia?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Factual Context<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The case arises in the context of a young woman with incurable cancer who was admitted to St. Paul\u2019s Hospital, operated by Providence Health Care Society, a Catholic organization. Providence Health Care Society operates in accordance with Catholic convictions that human life is sacred, that service to the sick is a fundamental, essential expression of faith and is founded on a deep respect for the dignity of every human person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, Providence does not provide MAID on its premises but arranges to transfer patients to a facility that performs MAID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The patient in this case requested MAID, was assessed, approved, and agreed to be subsequently transferred to a nearby site that performs MAID. Before she was sedated for the transfer, the patient had an opportunity to privately visit with and say goodbye to friends and family. The patient was sedated just before her transfer and was asleep when she arrived at the MAID facility where she was euthanized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Claim<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The patient\u2019s family, Dying with Dignity, a euthanasia advocacy organization, and a physician together argue that permitting MAID-free healthcare facilities violates section 2 and section 7 of the Charter<\/em> because it interferes with access to MAID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Section 2 of the Charter<\/em> protects freedom of conscience and religion, among others, and requires the state to be neutral toward religion. Section 7 of the Charter<\/em> protects the right to life, liberty and security of the person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charter<\/em> rights and freedoms can be limited when the limits are prescribed by law and can be \u201cdemonstrably justified.\u201d That has been applied in law through a proportionality test which asks whether the law limiting Charter<\/em> rights is sufficiently important, is rationally connected to the goal, and is proportionate in its effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Defendants include the BC Minister of Health, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and Providence Health Care Society, a Catholic health facility and non-profit corporation. For its part, the Minister of Health explains that the province supports reasonable access to MAID but must also protect the rights of medical professionals and faith-based organizations with conscientious objections to MAID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Life-Affirming Care is Necessary
<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We have written elsewhere that life-affirming care is a necessary check on rapid MAID expansion<\/a> and which is a collective expression of conscience about the value, worth, and dignity of all human life that must be protected under the Charter<\/em>. As we explain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThough often forgotten<\/a> or conflated with religion, freedom of conscience is an independent right with independent content. It is found in section 2(a) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms<\/em><\/a>. For our Supreme Court<\/a>, \u201cit is easy to see the relationship between respect for individual conscience and the valuation of human dignity\u201d and its central role in a free and democratic society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freedom of association is found in section 2(d) of the Charter<\/em>. It has largely been applied by courts to union situations, but its fundamental purpose is much broader<\/a>: It is meant to protect individuals from \u201cstate-enforced isolation in the pursuit of his or her ends,\u201d to \u201cempower vulnerable groups\u201d and make possible a \u201cmore equal society.\u201d Association is particularly important for the exercise of other freedoms, including conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

CCCC Intervention \u2013 Conscience and Charity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

CCCC sought to intervene to raise two crucial arguments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n