While America entertains itself with the likes of Donald Trump and the presidential primaries, Canada is inching towards what’s bound to be a monumental decision with repercussions on both sides of the border. Euthanasia. State-sponsored suicide. And by inching I mean we’re barrelling towards it at breakneck speed.

OTTAWA - A broad alliance of Catholic and other organizations opposed to assisted suicide is urging that upcoming legislation provide explicit protections for disabled and other vulnerable people including a review by a judge or independent authority prior to the killing of any patient.

VANCOUVER - Vancouver physicians have carried out Canada’s first known case of assisted suicide outside of Quebec.

OTTAWA - The upcoming federal law regarding physician-assisted death must respect the conscience rights of doctors and other health-care workers, Cardinal Thomas Collins told a Parliamentary committee.

OTTAWA - Catholic bioethicist Moira McQueen has refused an invitation to sit on a provincial/territorial panel developing guidelines for physician-assisted death because she feared being used to show that all sides of the issue were consulted.