Canadians Favour Advance Consent in Assisted Dying

| Filed under: National, Social Issues

Canadians Favour Advance Consent in Assisted Dying

Support for Supreme Court decision high

In a random sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll™ among 2271 Canadian voters, the wide majority continue to favour the Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of assisted dying in the Carter case (72%) and this support has not changed materially since we polled it last (April, 2016 - 74%). The assisted dying ruling is favoured by younger voters (35 to 44 - 82%), the wealthiest (81%), in Quebec (81%), among New Democrats (79%) and among Francophones (82%).


Canadians favour advanced consent in assisted dying

A very similarly clear majority approves of “advance consent” in assisted dying, where a patient can leave explicit written instructions to be given assistance dying, even if they are incapacitated and unable to communicate when the time comes (74%). Those in favour follow a very similar demographic pattern to those in favour of the Carter ruling overall; youngish (35 to 44 - 85%), the wealthiest ($100K to $250K - 81%), in Quebec (80%), among New Democrats (79%) and Francophones (81%).

“We have known for years Canadians favour assisted dying. It is clear from these findings that they don’t want to deny this right to those who can’t, in the end, speak for themselves" said Forum Research President, Dr. Lorne Bozinoff.