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Dr. Dominique Garrel, tenured Professor in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montreal, restores the meaning of words in the debate on euthanasia, in a text published in La Presse, print version, on June 11:

Killing is killing. 

For the proponents of the law on end of life care, these words take the meaning that they want. We heard Mrs Hivon often explain that medical aid in dying fundamentally differs from euthanasia, as the latter is done against an individual’s desire. In a letter in La Presse on 10th June, a reader reprimends Mrs St-Pierre for using the words “right to kill”, because according to dictionaries, the word “killing” requires a victim that hasn’t consented.

Yet, it is not difficult to check the meaning of words like euthanasia and killing in dictionaries like Larousse, or ethical and philosophical dictionaries. Euthanasia may be passive or active, and active euthanasia may be done with or without the agreement of the individual. Medical aid in dying is therefore just another way to name euthanasia.

As for the word killing, it is defined as the act to bring death in a violent manner. We haven’t found a definition that implies the lack of consent of the individual. Of course this lack of consent is implicit when we use the word, however, euthanasia is a way of killing people.