Critics say it is time for St. Martha's physician assisted suicide exemption to end

A Nova Scotia Catholic congregation, thrust into a controversy about the right to die, is confident its policy will endure.

The Sisters of St. Martha has an agreement with the Nova Scotia government, forbidding medical assistance in dying, at Saint Martha’s Hospital in Antigonish, N.S.

“It is named in the agreement that we don’t do a suicide,” says Congregation leader, Sister Brendalee Boisvert.

Almost three years after the federal government legalized medically-assisted dying, critics say it’s time for the Saint Martha’s exemption to end.

“The bottom line is that a faith-based institution should not be allowed to impose its’ faith, its values, on the citizens of a community who may not share them,” said Jocelyn Downie, a professor at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University who specializes in health law.