How the VPS was created
The Vulnerable Persons Standard was developed in 2016 as a response to the Supreme Court of Canada's Carter Decision and to assist the Government of Canada as it developed Canada's first medical-assistance in dying law, Bill C-14.
The VPS is internationally recognized as a first-of-its-kind evidence-based Standard that provides clear and comprehensive guidance to law-makers by identifying the safeguards necessary to protect vulnerable persons within a regulatory environment that permits medical-assistance in dying.
The Standard was developed by a body of advisors with expertise in medicine, ethics, law, public policy and needs of vulnerable persons.
These advisors continue to advocate on behalf of the Standard and are actively involved in on-going studies as well as litigation related to medical-assistance in dying in Canada.
Advisors to the Vulnerable Persons Standard
The following Advisors to the Vulnerable Persons Standard have contributed their invaluable insights and expertise to this initiative, either through active participation in authorship and review, or through thoughtful endorsement of the Standard and its safeguards framework.
Some advisors to the Vulnerable Persons Standard, and some individuals and organizations who have endorsed the Standard, have ethical and moral objections to euthanasia and assisted suicide, but have agreed to support this Standard in order to limit the harms and risks that these practices present, especially to vulnerable people.
Affiliations are indicated for information purposes only and do not necessarily represent organizational endorsement.
Dr. Will Johnston, MD, MCFP
Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Kerri Joffe, LLB, BCL, MSW
Staff Lawyer, ARCH Disability Law Centre
Dr. Nuala Kenny, OC, MD, FRCP(C)
Professor Emeritus, Dalhousie University and Former Ethics and Health Policy Advisor for the Catholic Health Alliance of Canada
Lana Kerzner, LLB
Barrister and Solicitor, Toronto
Lecturer in Disability and Law, School of Disability Studies, Ryerson University
Robert Lattanzio, LLB BCL
Executive Director, ARCH Disability Law Centre
Trudo Lemmens LicJur, LLM bioethics, DCL
Professor and Scholl Chair in Health Law and Policy
Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Dr. Renata Leong, MD.,cM, MHSc, CCFP, FCFP
Staff Physician, Department of Family and Community Medicine, St. Michael's Hospital
Assistant Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto
Dr. Constant H. Leung, MD, CCFP, FCFP
Family Physician, Collingwood Medical Clinic, Vancouver, BC
Clinical Instructor, Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Dr. Wi-Guan Lim, MD
Family Physician, Vancouver, BC
Dr. Cindy Lou, MD
Family Physician
Brian L. Mishara, Ph.D
Directeur, Centre de recherche et d'intervention sur le suicide et l'euthanasie
Professeur, Département de psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal
Wendall Nicholas (Founding Advisor, now deceased)
Chair, Wabanaki Council on Disability
Ken V. Pike
Director of Social Policy, New Brunswick Association for Community Living
Dianne Pothier (Founding Advisor, now deceased)
Professor Emeritus, Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University
Michael J. Prince, PhD
Landsdowne Professor of Social Policy, University of Victoria
Dean Richert, LLB
Barrister and Solicitor (retired)
End of Life Ethics Committee, Council of Canadians with Disabilities
Diane Richler, CM
Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. International Fellow
Samadhi Mora Severino, MA
PhD Student, Health Policy & Equity, York University
Appointed to Public Health Ontario’s Research Ethics Board
Mary Shariff, PhD
Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba
Margaret Somerville, AM, FRSC, DCL
Professor of Bioethics, School of Medicine, The University of Notre Dame Australia (Sydney campus);
Samuel Gale Chair in Law Emerita, Professor Emerita Faculty of Medicine, Founding Director Emerita Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, McGill University
C. Tess Sheldon, MSc, JD, LLM, PhD
Staff Lawyer, ARCH Disability Law Centre
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Contract lecturer, Faculty of Law, Lakehead University
Timothy Stainton, BSW, MSW, PhD
Director and Professor, School of Social Work, University of British Columbia
Director of the Centre for Inclusion and Citizenship, UBC
Dr. William F. Sullivan, MD, CCFP, PhD, FCFP.
Family Physician, St. Michael's Hospital and Surrey Place Centre, Toronto
Associate Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto
Donna Thomson
Disability and family caregiving activist, consultant and author
Board member, NeuroDevNet, a Canadian Network of Centres of Excellence
Consultant to Saint Elizabeth Health Care, the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario
Dr. Jennifer Y. Tong, MD, CCFP
Family Physician,Vancouver, BC
Clinical Instructor, Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Jutta Treviranus
Director, Inclusive Design Research Centre, OCAD University
Bruce Uditsky, M. Ed.
Chief Executive Officer, Inclusion Alberta
Dr. Eric Wasylenko, MD, CCFP, MHSc
Clinical Associate Professor, Division of Palliative Medicine, Department of Oncology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary;
Clinical Lecturer, John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre, University of Alberta
Rhonda Wiebe
End of Life Ethics Committee, Council of Canadians with Disabilities
Member, Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities