The Archbishop of Montreal is in court because he does not want medical assistance in dying to be administered in a former Catholic church converted into a palliative care home — so as not to be “complicit in euthanasia”. He asked a judge on Tuesday to suspend the article of Quebec law which recently requires all palliative care homes to offer it.
Under the leadership of former parishioners, donors and Catholic volunteers, the Archbishop had accepted that the former St. Raphael the Archangel church, closed in 2008, be converted into a project that could benefit the community, i.e. a palliative care home.
To carry out this multi-million dollar project, a non-profit community organization was created, and the St-Raphaël Palliative Care Home was created in 2019. It has 12 beds and care is offered free of charge. The organization was granted a 100-year lease — for an annual rent of $1 — with a series of conditions, including this one, which was very clear: medical assistance in dying cannot be administered there.
“Everything works well until the legislator decides to modify the Law concerning end of life care », reported Me Jacques Darche who represents the Archbishop of Montreal, Christian Lépine, and his works of charity.
This change threw the Archdiocese into an “insoluble dilemma,” the lawyer argued to Judge Catherine Piché of the Superior Court.
A murder “
The Archbishop does not want to stop offering palliative care, but cannot accept that “the property, a former church, is used to commit acts that are morally unacceptable to him. »
“Catholic beliefs are that euthanasia constitutes a morally inadmissible act, a “murder”, in which it is forbidden to collaborate in any way, the Church considering life to be sacred and inviolable from conception to natural death. »
The Law provides that medical personnel cannot be forced to administer medical assistance in dying, so that their beliefs and religion are respected: the Archbishop requests the same treatment for care homes. If such an exemption had been included in the law “we would not be here”, underlined Mr. Darche.
The recent addition to article 13 which requires all palliative care homes to offer medical assistance in dying violates freedom of religion and conscience, protected by the Charters, it has been argued. The Archbishop requests that the addition be invalidated and declared unconstitutional. If he had known that he would one day be obliged in this way, he would have found from the start another vocation in the old church, it was argued Tuesday in a room of the Montreal courthouse.
But if we do nothing, “we contribute materially to euthanasia. » And “the Church would be complicit”, added the prosecutor to explain the position of his clients.
The legal process is not “against” medical assistance in dying in general and is not intended to prevent anyone from requesting it, he clarified.
Suspension, pending
Pending the trial at the end of which it will be determined whether the recent addition to article 13 of the Law should be invalidated, the Archbishop requests that its application be suspended, in short, that palliative care homes do not have to comply with it. And if the magistrate does not want to go that far, he simply asks that Maison St-Raphaël be exempted.
If the Law is not suspended, there will be irreparable harm: a single death on Church grounds would be a “moral stain”, it was argued.
And then, this suspension of the article would not cause major inconveniences to Quebec society, argued Mr.e Darche. The “vast majority” of palliative care homes offer medical assistance in dying, he maintains. And if a patient at Maison St-Raphaël wishes, they can be transferred home or to the hospital, depending on an agreement with the CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal.
“It’s not a prison,” he insisted: patients can change their minds and leave. In the last two years, there have only been a total of two transfers in the entire province anyway.
Lawyers for the Attorney General of Quebec defended the legislative change before Judge Piché. Like any law, this is presumed to have been adopted in the public interest, argued Mr. Pierre-Luc Beauchesne. The Archbishop has not discharged his burden of proving otherwise, he said.
“It is not in the public interest for hospices to be able to exclude medical assistance in dying from the care they provide. »
He argued that transfers to a place that administers it have not been smooth in the past, citing the psychological distress and significant physical suffering suffered by patients.
Imposing a transfer of establishment to a patient who is suffering, in the last days of his life, “it’s a bit cruel,” said Me Beauchesne.
It now remains for Judge Piché to render her judgment.