Quebec's top court rules assisted dying law can go ahead - Montreal - CBC News
Quebec's Court of Appeal has maintained the province's right to allow terminally ill patients the choice to die with medical help, the first law of its kind in Canada.
This morning, a three-judge Court of Appeal panel overturned a Dec. 1 Quebec Superior Court judgment aimed at suspending implementation of the province's law, Bill 52, until certain provisions of the Criminal Code were changed.
In the ruling, the Court of Appeal said the Quebec law doesn't contravene sections of the Criminal Code related to assisted dying because they were struck down by Canada's Supreme Court last February.
It said the provincial legislation fills a judicial void by allowing patients to exercise their rights granted to them by Canada's top court.
Monday
'Landslide Victory' for Ogoni Farmers as Court Rules Against Shell
'Landslide Victory' for Ogoni Farmers as Court Rules Against Shell
In a potentially precedent-setting ruling, a Dutch court said Friday that Royal Dutch Shell may be held liable for oil spills at its subsidiary in Nigeria—a win for farmers and environmentalists attempting to hold the oil giant accountable for leaks, spills, and widespread pollution.
The ruling by the Court of Appeals in the Hague, which overturns a 2013 decision in favor of Shell, allows four Ogoni farmers from the Niger Delta to jointly sue the fossil fuels corporation in the Netherlands for causing extensive oil spills in Nigeria.
The scars of those disasters are still visible in the fields and fishing ponds of three Nigerian villages. In one village, drinking water has been rendered non-potable, while in another, an entire mangrove forest has been destroyed.
Alali Efanga, one of the Ogoni farmers who, along with Friends of the Earth Netherlands, brought the case against Shell, said the ruling "offers hope that Shell will finally begin to restore the soil around my village so that I will once again be able to take up farming and fishing on my own land."
Beyond that, the court's decision "is a landslide victory for environmentalists and these four brave Nigerian farmers who, for more than seven years, have had the courage to take on one of the most powerful companies in the world," said Geert Ritsema, campaigner at Friends of the Earth Netherlands. "This ruling is a ray of hope for other victims of environmental degradation, human rights violations, and other misconduct by large corporations."
Indeed, as Amnesty International researcher Mark Dummett said in advance of the ruling: "This case is especially important as it could pave the way for further cases from other communities devastated by Shell's negligence."
"There have been thousands of spills from Shell’s pipelines since the company started pumping oil in the Niger Delta in 1958," Dummett said, "with devastating consequences for the people living there."
Decrying the "incredible levels of pollution" caused by the activities of Shell and its subsidiaries, environmentalists Vandana Shiva and Nnimmo Bassey said at a media briefing in July that "weekends in Ogoniland are marked by carnivals of funerals of people in their 20s and 30s."
Citing a 2011 United Nations Environmental Programme assessment, they noted that in over 40 locations tested in Ogoniland, the soil is polluted with hydrocarbons up to a depth of 5 meters and that all the water bodies in the region are polluted.
The UN report, they said, also found that in some places the water was polluted with benzene, a known carcinogen, at levels 900 above World Health Organization standards. "With life expectancy standing at about 41 years, the clean up of Ogoniland is projected to require a cumulative 30 years to clean both the land and water," they said.
In a potentially precedent-setting ruling, a Dutch court said Friday that Royal Dutch Shell may be held liable for oil spills at its subsidiary in Nigeria—a win for farmers and environmentalists attempting to hold the oil giant accountable for leaks, spills, and widespread pollution.
The ruling by the Court of Appeals in the Hague, which overturns a 2013 decision in favor of Shell, allows four Ogoni farmers from the Niger Delta to jointly sue the fossil fuels corporation in the Netherlands for causing extensive oil spills in Nigeria.
The scars of those disasters are still visible in the fields and fishing ponds of three Nigerian villages. In one village, drinking water has been rendered non-potable, while in another, an entire mangrove forest has been destroyed.
Alali Efanga, one of the Ogoni farmers who, along with Friends of the Earth Netherlands, brought the case against Shell, said the ruling "offers hope that Shell will finally begin to restore the soil around my village so that I will once again be able to take up farming and fishing on my own land."
Beyond that, the court's decision "is a landslide victory for environmentalists and these four brave Nigerian farmers who, for more than seven years, have had the courage to take on one of the most powerful companies in the world," said Geert Ritsema, campaigner at Friends of the Earth Netherlands. "This ruling is a ray of hope for other victims of environmental degradation, human rights violations, and other misconduct by large corporations."
Indeed, as Amnesty International researcher Mark Dummett said in advance of the ruling: "This case is especially important as it could pave the way for further cases from other communities devastated by Shell's negligence."
"There have been thousands of spills from Shell’s pipelines since the company started pumping oil in the Niger Delta in 1958," Dummett said, "with devastating consequences for the people living there."
Decrying the "incredible levels of pollution" caused by the activities of Shell and its subsidiaries, environmentalists Vandana Shiva and Nnimmo Bassey said at a media briefing in July that "weekends in Ogoniland are marked by carnivals of funerals of people in their 20s and 30s."
Citing a 2011 United Nations Environmental Programme assessment, they noted that in over 40 locations tested in Ogoniland, the soil is polluted with hydrocarbons up to a depth of 5 meters and that all the water bodies in the region are polluted.
The UN report, they said, also found that in some places the water was polluted with benzene, a known carcinogen, at levels 900 above World Health Organization standards. "With life expectancy standing at about 41 years, the clean up of Ogoniland is projected to require a cumulative 30 years to clean both the land and water," they said.
Tuesday
COC endorses Truth and Reconciliation Recommendations, report released Dec 15.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission will release its final report today.
Some of the key recommendations listed in their interim report released this past June include:
Some of the key recommendations listed in their interim report released this past June include:
-
reducing the number of Aboriginal children in care by ... providing
adequate resources to enable Aboriginal communities and child-welfare
organizations to keep Aboriginal families together where it is safe to
do so
-
developing with Aboriginal groups a joint strategy to eliminate
educational and employment gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
Canadians
-
acknowledging that the current state of Aboriginal health in Canada is
a direct result of previous Canadian government policies, including
residential schools
-
eliminating the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in custody
over the next decade, and to issue detailed annual reports that monitor
and evaluate progress in doing so
-
appointing a public inquiry into the causes of, and remedies for, the
disproportionate victimization of Aboriginal women and girls.
- developing a national action plan, strategies, and other concrete measures to achieve the goals of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
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