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Today on the Hill: Activists call on MPs to reject assisted suicide

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 02 Oct, 2014 10:42 AM

    OTTAWA - The debate over assisted suicide heads back into the spotlight today with an impassioned plea against allowing people to help others kill themselves.

    Steve Passmore, a disability activist from Hamilton, Ont., will address members of Parliament, telling them that he will be "defined as unworthy of life" if society allows assisted suicide for people.

    Passmore says the Supreme Court of Canada must guarantee his right to suffer and to be treated by a physician.

    Here are some of the other events and happenings expected to take place in Ottawa:

    — The debate over whether Canada should enter a combat mission in northern Iraq continues, although the prime minister is out of town and the government saying it has yet to decide a course of action following a request for help from the U.S. government;

    — Back on the medical front, Bruce Linton, the chairman of Tweed, will speak to an Ottawa business gathering on the growing demand for medical marijuana;

    — The Canada 2020 policy conference opens with panel discussions on international security, income security, cyber security and privacy, skills and labour, North American energy and the environment. Employment Minister Jason Kenney, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau are among the scheduled speakers;

    — And the Canadian War Museum will unveil a photographic exhibit on the internment of what were known as enemy aliens between 1914 and 1920.

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