Sue Rodriguez
Sue Rodriguez (1950-February 12, 1994) was a Canadian euthanasia advocate.
She was born in Winnipeg, with the given name Sue Shipley, and grew up in Thornhill, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto.
Her first marriage was short lived.
Ms. Rodriguez, who lived in Victoria, British Columbia, was diagnosed with ALS in early 1992. She fought to have a legal right to assisted suicide; under the Criminal Code of Canada, assisted suicide is punishable by a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
She took her cause twice to the Supreme Court of Canada, but ultimately lost both battles. On September 3, 1993, the SCOC voted 5–4 against her case.
She decided to take her own life with the help of an anonymous physician. Svend Robinson, a New Democratic Party MP who had championed her cause, was also present.
A 1998 film called At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story, with Wendy Crewson as Ms. Rodriguez, tells her story.
See also: Jack Kevorkian
External links
- CBC Archives: Sue Rodriguez and the right-to-die debate
- CBC Newsworld Flashback – 1993
- Canoe.ca – Dealing with death – Interview of Wendy Crewson about the movie
- Supreme Court of Canada sends "mercy killer" to jail – the Robert Latimer case
Categories: 1950 births | 1994 deaths | Canadian social justice activists