By Stephen Pate – A blockbuster application was filed in Quebec Superior Court claiming the assisted suicide judge was biased. Justice Christine Baudouin should have recused herself, according to November 16, 2020 filing.
The intervention seeks to revoke the 2019 Truchon/Gladu judgement, which is the basis for the Federal Liberal Government’s Bill C-7. The legislation in final form will allow the legal euthanasia of Canadians with disabilities or mental illness.
The Voluntary Intervention claims that Justice Baudouin was biased, had conflicts of interest, and should have recused herself from hearing Jean Truchon and Nicole Gladu’s case.
If the facts stated in the Roger Foley Superior Court Application are even remotely true, the Tuchon case should have been appealed by the Minister of Justice. A gross miscarriage of justice potentially has been perpetrated on the Canadian public.
More than irony, the Justice Minister did not appeal to the Truchon ruling, but a severely disabled man did. Foley suffers from “cerebellar ataxia, a brain disorder that limits his ability to move his arms and legs, and prevents him from independently performing daily tasks.”
REASONABLE APPREHENSION OF BIAS BY JUSTICE CHRISTIN BAUDOUIN
“Justice Christine Baudouin is the daughter of Jean-Louis Baudouin who was a judge for the Quebec Court of Appeal from 1989 to 2009. Justice Jean-Louis Baudouin is an advocate for the legalization of euthanasia and has ties to pro-euthanasia organizations,” states the filing.
Jean-Louis Baudouin was found in conflict of interest in another case.
“Jean-Louis Baudouin has written several books, publications, and given presentations to advocate for the decriminalization of euthanasia. For example, he authored a pro-euthanasia book in 1993 entitled “Éthique de la mort et droit à la mort”, and over many decades wrote publications such as Jean-Louis Baudouin’s 1995 contribution publication “L’autorité du précédent au Québec” and his 2009 publication “Rapport synthèse, Congrès de l’Association Henri Capitant, Journées Suisses”. He was also the Chair of the Quebec section of L’association Henri Capitant which is a pro-euthanasia organization.”
“Justice Christine Baudouin shares her father’s views on euthanasia as she has been a part of Chaire Jean-Louis Baudouin en droit civil for decades echoing her father’s voice as pro-euthanasia, and therefore will not decide a case contrary to his pro-euthanasia views. Jean-Louis was her mentor and teacher as documented in the Chaire Jean-Louis Baudouin en droit civil’s 2012 publication “En l’honneur de Jean-Louis Baudouin” and as reported by journalist Agnès Wojciechowicz’s 2012 publication Jean-Louis et moi. Also, Christine Baudouin began raising finances for Chaire Jean-Louis Baudouin en droit civil in 2006 through her law firm cabinets to support her Father’s canadian pro-euthanasia missions as documented in the Chaire Jean-Louis Baudouin en droit civil’s 2006 publication “Lancement de la Chaire”.”
“Further, in 2016 Christine Baudouin, before becoming a judge, was a part of a panel at Université de Montréal event called “Droit et assistance médicale à mourir” on November 16th 2016.[1] At this event Christine spoke her opinions and predictions of how medical assistance in dying evolved and would continue to evolve in Quebec, Canada and abroad, and what the upcoming debates pertaining to the expansion of medical assistance in dying in Canada would be; is further inappropriate for a sitting judge to not recuse herself from a case knowing she took public stands on the issue expressing her desired outcome for that issue.”
For unstated reasons, the Federal Minister of Justice has not filed an appeal in Tuchon. It is very unusual for the Federal government not to challenge lower court rulings that demand laws be changed.
The filing states “the trial judge, Christine Baudouin, broadened the eligibility criteria for medical assistance in dying, removing the lock, restriction, safeguard and protection limiting the request for medical assistance to die when death was to be reasonably foreseeable future.”
The judge was not independent and impartial and she failed to disclose her conflicts of interest. She rendered an improper decision because there was a reasonable apprehension of bias.
Quebec Superior Court Justice Baudouin said in effect that people with disabilities should be allowed to choose assisted death or euthanasia if they wished. The Federal Government did not appeal the 2019 lower court ruling. The Federal Justice Minister has proposed Bill C-7 which would make euthanasia of people with disabilities legal. The Canadian Senate passed an amendment including persons with mental illness.
The Intervention said in summary that “Thousands of vulnerable people with disabilities are concerned and will seek medical assistance in dying because of the choice not to help these people live in dignity and overcome certain challenges in their lives.”
The Intervention also claims that one of the applicants for assisted dying Jean Truchon was driven to suicide by inadequate care. “Jean Truchon requested medical assistance in dying because home care and social inclusion services were not available to him by the government, which plunged him into a state of relentless oppression, according to the email he sent to Jonathan Marchand on August 17, 2016: “in response to a question about maintenance; at home, I think that indeed if there were services for 70 hours and more, I would have preferred to stay at home and possibly that I would not have had the same desire to die.”
There has been no disposition of the Foley Intervention, to our knowledge.
For the complete filing, click this link for pages 1-6 and this link for pages 7-12.
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