Ottawa's Pat McLaughlin shares an original poem, in which she reflects on her wishes for care at end of life.

In celebration of National Advance Care Planning Day on April 16, Dying With Dignity Canada board member Leigh Naturkach shares her top five things to consider when planning for end of life.

April may be Advance Care Planning month, but it’s not the only time to talk about end-of-life wishes. It is simply a reminder. We plan as best we can for life, and death deserves no less. No matter how hard it might be to think about death, it is an inevitable part of life. It’s also important to remember death is not just a medical event — it is a life event. To me, advance care planning goes beyond the medical directive.

Have you started thinking about advance care planning? Do you know who you would choose to make decisions about your health on your behalf? If you haven’t started working on your plan yet, April — Advance Care Planning Month — is a great time to start. Dying With Dignity Canada is running a special advance care planning blog series throughout the month, with posts designed to guide you through different aspects of the process and introduce important things to consider.

In the first instalment of the series, Dying With Dignity Canada's Education and Engagement Officer Maureen Aslin answers commonly asked questions about how to get started on your advance care plan (ACP) and dispels some misconceptions about ACPs.

Watching a family member access medical assistance in dying (MAID) can be a complicated emotional experience, one that Nova Scotia’s Jenny Hasselman knows all too well. Hasselman supported her mother — her favourite person in the world — on a journey with assisted dying after her mother’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Now, she is sharing her story as part of her healing process with the hope that her words will normalize the procedure and shine a light on a flawed requirement in the law.

In Case You Missed It is a round-up of news articles and commentaries featuring Dying With Dignity Canada speakers and stories. Did you miss these stories in March?

Jeanie Gagnon’s Aunt Lizzie lived a long and full life before intolerable suffering led her to make the decision to access medical assistance in dying. In unspeakable pain and robbed of the ability to do the activities she loved most, Lizzie was unwavering in her choice. In this special Dying With Dignity Canada blog post, Jeanie — who has asked that her real name not be used to protect her privacy — shares her aunt’s experience with choosing and preparing for a medically assisted death.

Eight in 10 Albertans disagree with the practice of allowing publicly funded hospitals in the province to ban assisted dying on their premises, a new poll has found.

In February, Dying With Dignity Canada (DWDC) commissioned the research firm Ipsos to conduct a survey of 800 Albertans on whether they believe all public hospitals in the province should be required to allow medical assistance in dying (MAID) on-site. The poll follows a series of news reports by CBC Edmonton surrounding the treatment of severely ill Albertans who requested MAID in healthcare facilities where it is banned.

Dr. Devorah Greenberg was a lifelong social justice advocate. Ordinarily, the Simon Fraser University professor campaigned for the rights of others whose freedom or well-being was at risk. But her final campaign for social justice saw her fight for her own rights — in particular, her right to access medical assistance in dying in the long-term care facility which she had come to call home. In a moving new testimonial for Dying With Dignity Canada’s blog, Dr. Greenberg’s daughter, Megan, describes what it was like to support her mother in her quest to end her life how, when, and where she wanted.

In Case You Missed It is a round-up of news articles and commentaries featuring Dying With Dignity Canada speakers and stories. Did you miss these stories in February?

In this blog post, Barrie Radcliffe of Barrie, Ont. candidly shares how the late-stage consent requirement in Canada's assisted dying law had tragic, heartbreaking consequences for his wife, Lynne.