Majority of Canadians support assisted suicide: poll
Posted October 12, 2013 8:37 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A large majority of Canadians still back assisted suicide.
A survey has found 68 per cent believe those who help the seriously ill commit suicide should not be charged with a crime.
Keith Neuman with the Environics Institute says opinions haven’t changed much over for past two decades. “This really is a question of values. This isn’t so much about people looking at particular policies or that sort of thing. Values about things like this don’t usually change that dramatically over a period of years.”
Neuman says the response is almost identical to 20 years ago. “There’s majorities in every province where the public feels that assisted suicide would be something that would be ok.”
The survey finds 70 per cent support euthanasia in general. Older Canadians are more likely to support it than younger respondents.
The BC Court of Appeal has upheld a ban on physician-assisted suicide.
