I hope that philosophers will begin to support Canadian disabled people in their political struggle against Bill C-7, proposed legislation that targets them. The grievous injustice that Bill C-7 embodies should be of particular concern to Canadian philosophers given that a number of their colleagues have initiated it, developed it, and lobbied for it. Where […]
Blowing the Whistle on MAiD/Bill C-7 and the Naturalization of Disability and Mental Illness
As a disabled philosopher of disability, one of the most (though certainly not the most) frustrating aspects of the recent discussions and debates about MAiD and Bill C-7 that have ensued in the Canadian Senate, on Daily Nous and other blogs, on Facebook, and on Twitter is the way that disability and mental illness have […]
The Carceral Character of Nursing Homes and How Eugenics in Canada is MAiD
This post comprises an excerpt from my article “Philosophy of Disability, Conceptual Engineering, and the Nursing Home-Industrial-Complex in Canada,” which is forthcoming in Philosophies of Disability and the Global Pandemic, a special issue of The International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies of which I am guest editor. Additional posts about nursing homes and about MAiD […]
Senator McPhedran and Bill C-7 Amendment
Here is a must-watch speech by Senator Marilou McPhedran in the current Canadian Senate debate on Bill C-7, proposed legislation to remove the foreseeable death clause from current MAiD legislation. Senator McPhedran, who has a long history of work on policy instruments with respect to international treaties, human rights, and minority populations, both disputes a […]
Jama and Downie on MAiD
In previous posts, I have drawn attention to the creative and important work of Sarah Jama and the Disability Justice Network of Ontario (DJNO). For instance, I alerted readers/listeners of BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY to the recent “Death By Coercion” webinar that DJNO organized to push back against the way that the perspectives and experiences of Black, […]
Letter in Opposition to Bill C-7 from Robert Wilson and Matthew Barker
In my previous post, I strongly urged members of the philosophical community in Canada and elsewhere to write letters to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs of the Canadian Government in opposition to the passage of Bill C-7, proposed legislation that would remove the “reasonably foreseeable” clause of the current MAiD legislation […]
Philosophers and Letters of Opposition to Bill C-7
During the past year, I’ve written various posts about MAiD and Bill C-7 (for example, here), including a post about a letter that I wrote and sent to the Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs in opposition to Bill C-7, proposed legislation that is currently under consideration in the Canadian Senate, having previously […]
Canadian Bioethicists and Legal Scholars Run Counter to Global Consensus on Medically Assisted Suicide
Yesterday the Human Rights Division of the United Nations issued a statement condemning legislation such as Canada’s MAiD that feminist and other bioethicists and legal scholars have developed. For background on this post, go here and follow other links in the linked post itself. __________________________________________________________________ Disability is not a reason to sanction medically assisted dying […]
What’s Ahead for 2021 (updated)
It’s that time of the year. I won’t make any grand predictions about the disciplinary and institutional status of philosophy of disability or the professional status of disabled philosophers nor even about whether any of the many tenured philosophers who pledged to support the victimized of sexual harassment will actually do something in the coming […]
More on Opposition to Bill C-7 (Medically-Assisted Suicide) and the Role of Philosophers
Last week, once again in the context of discussion about MAiD, I returned to the subject of how bioethics and bioethicists continue to shape philosophy departments in Canada and Canadian public policy with respect to the lives of disabled people and the limiting effects that this institutional formation has on the range of views that […]
