Every week, someone in Sweden is @Sweden: sole ruler of the world’s most democratic Twitter account.
For seven days, he or she recommends things to do and places to see, sharing diverse opinions, and ideas along the way.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
A new Swede every week
A new Swede every week /
@sweden
Every week, someone in Sweden is @Sweden: sole ruler of the world’s most democratic Twitter account.
For seven days, he or she recommends things to do and places to see, sharing diverse opinions, and ideas along the way.
Every week, someone in Sweden is @Sweden: sole ruler of the world’s most democratic Twitter account.
For seven days, he or she recommends things to do and places to see, sharing diverse opinions, and ideas along the way.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Carter v. Canada (Attorney General), Date: 20120615 Docket: S112688 Docket: S112688
|
Citation:
|
Carter v. Canada (Attorney General),
|
|
|
2012 BCSC 886
|
Date: 20120615
Docket: S112688
Registry:
Vancouver
Between:
Lee Carter, Hollis
Johnson, Dr. William Shoichet,
The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and Gloria Taylor
The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and Gloria Taylor
Plaintiffs
And
Attorney General of Canada
Defendant
And
Attorney General of British Columbia
Defendant
And
Farewell Foundation for the Right to Die
-and-
The Christian Legal Fellowship
-and-
Canadian Unitarian Council
-and-
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition – British Columbia
-and-
Ad Hoc Coalition of People with Disabilities
Who are Supportive of Physician-Assisted Dying
-and-
The Christian Legal Fellowship
-and-
Canadian Unitarian Council
-and-
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition – British Columbia
-and-
Ad Hoc Coalition of People with Disabilities
Who are Supportive of Physician-Assisted Dying
Intervenors
Before: The
Honourable Madam Justice Lynn Smith
Reasons for
Judgment
|
Counsel for Plaintiffs
|
Joseph J.M. Arvay, Q.C.,
Sheila M. Tucker, Alison M. Latimer, and Grace M. Pastine |
|
Counsel for Attorney General of Canada
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Donnaree Nygard, Keith Reimer,
Toireasa Jespersen, Melissa Nicolls, Megan Volk and BJ Wray |
|
Counsel for Attorney General of British Columbia
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George H. Copley Q.C.
and Craig E. Jones, Q.C. |
|
Counsel for Farewell Foundation for the Right to Die
|
Jason Gratl and Marius
Adomnica
|
|
Counsel for Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
|
Hugh R. Scher, Joel V. Payne
and John A. Campion |
|
Counsel for Christian Legal Fellowship
|
Gerald Chipeur, Q.C. Bradley Miller
and Michael Morawski |
|
Counsel for Canadian Unitarian Counsel
|
Tim Dickson and Brent L. Rentiers
|
|
Counsel for The Ad Hoc Coalition of People with Disabilities Who
are Supportive of Physician-Assisted Dying
|
Angus M. Gunn, Jr.
and Sarah F. Hudson |
|
Place and Date of Hearing:
|
November 14-18, 21-25, 28,
December 1-2, 5-9, 12-14, 16, 2011, April 16, 2012 Vancouver, B.C. |
|
Place and Date of Judgment:
|
Vancouver, B.C.
June 15, 2012 |
Table of
Contents
a)
Role for Consideration of Societal Interests in S. 7 Analysis;
Relationship between S. 7 And S. 1
Monday, June 18, 2012
Hundreds of medical professionals are protesting government cuts to the interim federal health program, which provides extended health-care benefits to refugees.
Doctors threw on their white coats Monday and rushed to Parliament Hill, which they say is the scene for the start of a national medical emergency: deteriorating refugee health.
Hundreds of medical professionals are protesting government cuts to the interim federal health program, which provides extended health-care benefits to refugees.
"We are launching into an uncontrolled, disastrous, human health experience by arbitrarily denying life-saving medical care to some of the most vulnerable and traumatized people in the whole world," said Dr. Mark Tyndall, the head of infectious diseases at the Ottawa hospital.
"And for what? Further isolation and suffering, the spread of infectious diseases, increased wait times at our hospital emergency departments. Canada is way better than this."
The benefits include prescription drugs and vision and dental care and will expire on June 30.
After that, refugees will be divided into two categories and see their health care coverage pared back to emergency services only, or if their care is required to prevent or treat a disease that could be a public health concern.
The Conservatives argue the extended benefits are better than those received by most Canadians.
But Tyndall said the government is playing politics.
"The government has used this issue to divide Canadians, pitting those who are dissatisfied with their own health coverage against refugees," he said.
"Canadians are smarter than this. This is an attack on our entire health-care system."
The Conservatives also argue good health-care benefits attract bogus refugee claims.
The government estimates that the cuts will save about $20 million a year for the next five years.
But one Ottawa doctor says it's ridiculous to presume refugees come to Canada because of health care.
Dr. Parisa Rezaiefar, who fled Iran more than 20 years ago, says refugees come to survive and often aren't given a choice as to where they'll end up.
"The interim federal health program isn't a charity," an emotional Rezaiefar told close to 200 people gathered in the midday sun on Parliament Hill.
"It's an investment."
Refugee advocates say the cuts are particularly egregious as they include care for refugees who are voluntarily resettled by Canada as part of its international obligations.
According to a report released Monday, Canada, along with the United States, resettled four-fifths of UN refugees last year.
What's the point if when they get here they are abandoned? asked Mado Mushimiyimana, who works at a downtown Ottawa clinic that serves a high number of refugees.
"You should let them die where they are (rather) than come to be killed silently in this country," she said.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
The Supreme Court of Canada plans to hold a one-day hearing July 10 to determine whether a new election should be held in the Toronto-area riding of Etobicoke Centre
The Supreme Court of Canada plans to hold a one-day hearing July 10 to determine whether a new election should be held in the Toronto-area riding of Etobicoke Centre after an Ontario Superior Court judge found the results of the May 2011 federal election to be null and void.
The election was won by Conservative Ted Opitz by 26 votes, but his Liberal opponent, Borys Wrzesnewskyj, challenged the results over voting irregularities and managed to have the results tossed.
The judge found there were problems with the way Elections Canada ran the election, Conservative Party spokesman Fred Delorey said after the May 18 ruling. Wrzesnewskyj succeeded in proving that at least 79 votes shouldn't have been counted.
Opitz appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada, which announced on Thursday that it would hold a special summer hearing.
Opitz had asked that the hearing be held in October, while Wrzesnewskyj had sought an earlier date.
On Tuesday, Wrzesnewskyj was nominated, unopposed, to represent the Liberals in Etobicoke Centre when the next federal vote is held in the riding.
The election was won by Conservative Ted Opitz by 26 votes, but his Liberal opponent, Borys Wrzesnewskyj, challenged the results over voting irregularities and managed to have the results tossed.
The judge found there were problems with the way Elections Canada ran the election, Conservative Party spokesman Fred Delorey said after the May 18 ruling. Wrzesnewskyj succeeded in proving that at least 79 votes shouldn't have been counted.
Opitz appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada, which announced on Thursday that it would hold a special summer hearing.
Opitz had asked that the hearing be held in October, while Wrzesnewskyj had sought an earlier date.
On Tuesday, Wrzesnewskyj was nominated, unopposed, to represent the Liberals in Etobicoke Centre when the next federal vote is held in the riding.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Ontario has become the first province in Canada to recognize gender identity in its human rights legislation.
Ontario has become the first province in Canada to recognize gender identity in its human rights legislation.
An amendment to the Ontario Human Rights Code prohibiting discrimination against transgender people was passed in the legislature on Wednesday.
Minutes after the amendment passed, the lobby outside the legislature was filled with transgender people, hugging and shaking hands with MPPs.
Christine Elliott, deputy leader of the Opposition Progressive Conservatives said the new law will "prevent discrimination against anyone in Ontario."
In a rare show of unity the bill, which was supported by all three parties in the legislature, passed unanimously.
"I'm just happy that now people have that tool to fight the oppression that our community faces so much," said Luka Sidaravicius.
Transgender people say they frequently struggle to find jobs, rental housing, sometimes even health services.
"It's just wonderful to see our rights recognized for the first time," said Christin Milloy grew up in Mississauga, just west of Toronto.
"I had a family who loved and accepted me, I'm so grateful for that. So many trans people don't have that."
The amendment was introduced as a private members' bill by NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo.
"To me it's homage to a dear, dear friend who was lost — as many transgendered folk are lost — to suicide," she said.
DiNovo said the amendment will do more than just help transgender people be accepted.
"It will change a great inequity that has been in place forever," she said.
An amendment to the Ontario Human Rights Code prohibiting discrimination against transgender people was passed in the legislature on Wednesday.
Minutes after the amendment passed, the lobby outside the legislature was filled with transgender people, hugging and shaking hands with MPPs.
Christine Elliott, deputy leader of the Opposition Progressive Conservatives said the new law will "prevent discrimination against anyone in Ontario."
In a rare show of unity the bill, which was supported by all three parties in the legislature, passed unanimously.
"I'm just happy that now people have that tool to fight the oppression that our community faces so much," said Luka Sidaravicius.
Transgender people say they frequently struggle to find jobs, rental housing, sometimes even health services.
"It's just wonderful to see our rights recognized for the first time," said Christin Milloy grew up in Mississauga, just west of Toronto.
"I had a family who loved and accepted me, I'm so grateful for that. So many trans people don't have that."
The amendment was introduced as a private members' bill by NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo.
"To me it's homage to a dear, dear friend who was lost — as many transgendered folk are lost — to suicide," she said.
DiNovo said the amendment will do more than just help transgender people be accepted.
"It will change a great inequity that has been in place forever," she said.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
A University of Alberta team has made an important breakthrough in the race to find a viable replacement for supply of technetium-99m, an important isotope produced by Canada’s Chalk River reactor.
A University of Alberta team has made an important breakthrough in the race to find a viable replacement for supply of technetium-99m, an important isotope produced by Canada’s Chalk River reactor.
Their research has proven that this important medical isotope, used in nuclear medicine imaging for about 250,000 Alberta patients each year, can be created in a device known as a cyclotron—and is as safe to use and provides as reliable an image as reactor-based isotopes. Their results are a promising first step in responding to an impending global need for an alternative supply.
Sandy McEwan, a researcher with the University of Alberta and medical director with Alberta Health Services’ Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, says that the team has produced viable quantities of high-quality technetium-99m using a 19-mega-electron-volt cyclotron, a circular particle accelerator that propels charged particles using a constant magnetic field. McEwan recently presented results from the first human clinical trials at the annual conference of the Society for Nuclear Medicine in Miami.
McEwan notes that the clinical trials were performed to Good Clinical Practice (GCP) standards, a set of international quality standards set by the International Conference on Harmonization. The GCP standards serve to protect the human rights of subjects in clinical trials, and ensure the safety and efficacy of the newly developed compounds. He says this is the first time that this type of study has ever been performed to GCP.
“We have taken the technetium made on the cyclotron and shown that it behaves exactly the same as the technetium we get from the reactor,” he said. “We’ve shown that the quality of the technetium and the quality of the images is the exactly the same.”
This process is a significant step in the search for a viable non-reactor-based solution to replacing the medical isotope stream currently produced by the aging Chalk River facility, where 40 per cent of the world’s medical radioisotope supply is generated. The balance of the world’s supply of these imaging isotopes comes from aging reactors in South Africa, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, installations that will soon need extensive upgrading or replacement. The U of A researchers believe that this is the first time that technetium has been successfully created in commercially viable quantities using a cyclotron.
“The reactor supply chain is complex, and these complexities contributed to the difficulties associated with the shutdown of Chalk River. We hope that the local supply model of the cyclotron will avoid these problems of the future.”
Currently, technetium-99m is used in 85 per cent of all nuclear medicine procedures globally every year. In the United States, roughly 20 million imaging procedures are performed each year. The procedure is used to diagnose patients with cancer, cardiac illness, neurological diseases and other diseases. It can be critical in identifying the presence or absence of disease, determining best treatment options and identifying recurrence or progression of the disease.
“Two million scans are performed in Canada every year with technetium-99m. We believe that we now have the potential to continue supplying patients with the tests they need without constructing new nuclear reactors,” said McEwan. "This means there is now a potentially valid alternative to reactor-produced medical isotopes."
There is also an important financial aspect to this research. McEwan notes that under the current method, production costs would climb because of costly retrofitting or replacement of the reactors around the world. He also cautions that, although this discovery is an important step in replacing the supply chain of medical imaging isotopes through a non-reactor-based process, further testing is still needed to determine the supply cost of technetium. Further testing is also required to confirm that suitable quantities can be produced via cyclotron to serve the population. However, given the results of the clinical trials, he is optimistic that the team’s research is an important first step.
“I think that if it’s an 800-metre race, we’ve hit the 300-metre point,” said McEwan. “We’ve established a very clear plan. Following that plan, we have achieved the first two or three goals in that process. We’re confident that the next two goals will be easy.”
Their research has proven that this important medical isotope, used in nuclear medicine imaging for about 250,000 Alberta patients each year, can be created in a device known as a cyclotron—and is as safe to use and provides as reliable an image as reactor-based isotopes. Their results are a promising first step in responding to an impending global need for an alternative supply.
Sandy McEwan, a researcher with the University of Alberta and medical director with Alberta Health Services’ Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, says that the team has produced viable quantities of high-quality technetium-99m using a 19-mega-electron-volt cyclotron, a circular particle accelerator that propels charged particles using a constant magnetic field. McEwan recently presented results from the first human clinical trials at the annual conference of the Society for Nuclear Medicine in Miami.
McEwan notes that the clinical trials were performed to Good Clinical Practice (GCP) standards, a set of international quality standards set by the International Conference on Harmonization. The GCP standards serve to protect the human rights of subjects in clinical trials, and ensure the safety and efficacy of the newly developed compounds. He says this is the first time that this type of study has ever been performed to GCP.
“We have taken the technetium made on the cyclotron and shown that it behaves exactly the same as the technetium we get from the reactor,” he said. “We’ve shown that the quality of the technetium and the quality of the images is the exactly the same.”
This process is a significant step in the search for a viable non-reactor-based solution to replacing the medical isotope stream currently produced by the aging Chalk River facility, where 40 per cent of the world’s medical radioisotope supply is generated. The balance of the world’s supply of these imaging isotopes comes from aging reactors in South Africa, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, installations that will soon need extensive upgrading or replacement. The U of A researchers believe that this is the first time that technetium has been successfully created in commercially viable quantities using a cyclotron.
“The reactor supply chain is complex, and these complexities contributed to the difficulties associated with the shutdown of Chalk River. We hope that the local supply model of the cyclotron will avoid these problems of the future.”
Currently, technetium-99m is used in 85 per cent of all nuclear medicine procedures globally every year. In the United States, roughly 20 million imaging procedures are performed each year. The procedure is used to diagnose patients with cancer, cardiac illness, neurological diseases and other diseases. It can be critical in identifying the presence or absence of disease, determining best treatment options and identifying recurrence or progression of the disease.
“Two million scans are performed in Canada every year with technetium-99m. We believe that we now have the potential to continue supplying patients with the tests they need without constructing new nuclear reactors,” said McEwan. "This means there is now a potentially valid alternative to reactor-produced medical isotopes."
There is also an important financial aspect to this research. McEwan notes that under the current method, production costs would climb because of costly retrofitting or replacement of the reactors around the world. He also cautions that, although this discovery is an important step in replacing the supply chain of medical imaging isotopes through a non-reactor-based process, further testing is still needed to determine the supply cost of technetium. Further testing is also required to confirm that suitable quantities can be produced via cyclotron to serve the population. However, given the results of the clinical trials, he is optimistic that the team’s research is an important first step.
“I think that if it’s an 800-metre race, we’ve hit the 300-metre point,” said McEwan. “We’ve established a very clear plan. Following that plan, we have achieved the first two or three goals in that process. We’re confident that the next two goals will be easy.”
Monday, June 11, 2012
The Norwegian parliament has voted to abolish the state
The vote last Wednesday was backed by parties across the political spectrum and has the effect of severing the connection between Norway and the Church of Norway, making Norway a secular state.
Svein Arne Lindø, chair of the church council, welcomed the decision which is the result of an agreement signed between the government and the church in 2008.
"Once the decision to change the constitution is made on Monday, it will be a great day for us. It's a great day for both church and country," he told state news agency NRK.
In practice the change means that the state relinquishes any control over the Church of Norway including the appointments of pastors and bishops. The decision will furthermore establish equality between the Church of Norway and other faiths represented in the country.
Church leaders will be in attendance at Norway's Stortinget parliament to witness the constitutional amendment on Monday afternoon.
The Lutheran Church was formally recognised as the state church in the Norwegian constitution framed after independence from Denmark in 1814.
Some 79.2 percent of Norwegians were registered as members of the Church of Norway as of January 1st 2010, although membership has been in steady decline over the past decade.
According to recent figures only 2 percent of Norwegians attend church regularly, and according to 2005 Gallup poll, 46 percent considered themselves atheists.
Svein Arne Lindø, chair of the church council, welcomed the decision which is the result of an agreement signed between the government and the church in 2008.
"Once the decision to change the constitution is made on Monday, it will be a great day for us. It's a great day for both church and country," he told state news agency NRK.
In practice the change means that the state relinquishes any control over the Church of Norway including the appointments of pastors and bishops. The decision will furthermore establish equality between the Church of Norway and other faiths represented in the country.
Church leaders will be in attendance at Norway's Stortinget parliament to witness the constitutional amendment on Monday afternoon.
The Lutheran Church was formally recognised as the state church in the Norwegian constitution framed after independence from Denmark in 1814.
Some 79.2 percent of Norwegians were registered as members of the Church of Norway as of January 1st 2010, although membership has been in steady decline over the past decade.
According to recent figures only 2 percent of Norwegians attend church regularly, and according to 2005 Gallup poll, 46 percent considered themselves atheists.
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