The website of the Foundation is currently in development. This right-to-die society has its roots in a research and education society established by scholars who wanted to understand why persons were voluntarily prepared to help those who sought assistance in dying before the absolute prohibition for assisted dying was declared unconstitutional in Canada. Growing demands and needs for improving such a provision in Canada and elsewhere has prompted a restoration of it in 2024.
Welcome to our revival of a right-to-die society first established before the Canadian Supreme Court in 2015 ordered the Government to amend its criminal code to permit an assisted dying provision in the country. By 2012 an investigative society called the Farewell Foundation for Research and Education was set up to facilitate understanding why and how volunteers assisted those in Canada who sought relief through a voluntary assisted death. By 2016 assisted dying was then created through a legislated medical regime known as MAID (medical aid in dying), and the Foundation was retired in October of 2016. However, over the past seven years, repeated court challenges by persons excluded from MAID with attending problems for MAID providers called for a restoration of a society devoted to understanding this regime while offering information and support for all concerned.
Although some eligibility restrictions were removed through amended legislation and access to the MAID provision was widened, many persons seeking a reliable, relatively painless death -whether or not suffering from an irremediable condition- still find themselves excluded because they can not meet MAID requirements or because they prefer not to involve nor convince health professionals of their need for this institutionalized provision.
Persons choosing not to apply for the MAID provision that is arguably ableist, ageist, and sanist, continue to face numerous hurdles for any viable, informed, and reliable alternative. The older, the more infirm, and the more competent/rational one presents for MAID assessors and doctors, the more likely it is one will be afforded the currently legislated MAID provision. Others will likely continue to be denied the provision.
The requirement to be suffering for access to MAID is also seen as unacceptable and a denial of a person’s human right regarding personal autonomy. Too many are therefore left to manage on their own and require information and support including what can be offered by overseas societies within a worldwide right-to-die movement that have fewer restrictions for help. It explains the purpose for reviving Farewell Foundation for the Right to Die as both a research and an advocacy society regarding voluntary assisted dying.
As we are presently expanding this website of the Farewell Foundation for the Right to Die, we invite any interested persons to consider joining our Board of Directors as a volunteer with this not-for-profit society. Once you contact me, I can explore with you how you might be able to contribute to the society with certain needed skills and suggestions on building our membership. Your enthusiasm and ideas are welcome! Please email me at FFRD@ivsi.net
Jürgen Dankwort, PhD, MSW