Call for Papers: Medical Assistance in Dying

92nd ACFAS Conference 2025
École des technologies supérieures Montréal
May 5th and 6th, 2025

Title: “L’élargissement de l’aide médicale à mourir : rétablir le dialogue entre les perspectives philosophiques, éthiques, féministes, décoloniales, et celles issues des études critiques sur le handicap”

Location and Delivery: The symposium will be held in Montreal, but it may be possible to present or attend remotely (by Zoom).

A forerunner in Canada in the field of medical assistance in dying (MAiD), Quebec today stands out as having on the highest rates of death by MAiD in the world. Every year, and even more so since the annulling of the Canadian Criminal Code’s legislative provision on reasonably foreseeable death in 2021, an increasing number of people are resorting to this practice, which has been conceptualized in Canada as a kind of “care”.

In a democratic and pluralistic society such as ours, where a plurality of beliefs, values and convictions coexist, conceptions of what constitutes a “good death” are just as diverse as those defining what constitutes a “good life”. Although MAiD now enjoys broad social support, and the law now permits suffering people to apply for it even if they are not yet at the end of life (provided they meet a set of other criteria), the opinions of researchers, practitioners, clinicians and activists diverge when it comes to thinking about this expansion. Among the many social, ethical, legal and clinical issues raised by the question of extending marketing authorization to people who are not at the end of life, those relating to the eligibility of people with disabilities and those suffering from severe mental disorders recalcitrant to treatment are among the most complex and delicate.

On the one hand, there is no doubt that decisions about one’s own end-of-life care are profoundly intimate, and that the choices made in this regard must be respected. On the other hand, it is equally imperative to take into account the broader social context in which requests for MAiD are made, particularly those made by people whose death is not reasonably foreseeable and who, because they live with a disability or severe mental disorder, are also victims of persistent forms of direct, systemic and institutional discrimination that curtail what activists and researchers have called the “right to live with dignity”. How can we ensure that we take account of this increased structural vulnerability of the most stigmatized and marginalized groups in our societies, while recognizing their most fundamental right to live an end-of-life as true as possible to their deepest values? How can we take into account the insidious phenomena of internalization of oppression and “adaptive preferences”, without undermining the agency of those concerned? How can we think about “oppressed agency” and free choice, not one against the other, but together?

This colloquium, devoted to issues prompted by the expansion of MAiD criteria in Canada since 2021, aims above all to create a welcoming space for meeting and sharing knowledge and different perspectives (often under debate) developed within a diversity of disciplines, including philosophy, ethics, law, psychology, psychiatry, feminist thought, critical disability studies, and mad and crip studies.

As part of the colloquium, an afternoon has already been scheduled for the workshop “Alexandre Baril meets his critics”, based on his book Défaire le suicidisme/Undoing Suicidism: A Trans, Queer, Crip Approach to Rethinking (Assisted) Suicide (Temple University Press).

Contributions may address the expansion of medical aid in dying in Quebec from a variety of angles and perspectives. Possible themes include (but are not limited to):

• Commentary on Alexandre Baril’s book in the workshop provided for this purpose
• MAiD, based on the concepts of relational autonomy, relational dignity, and interdependence
• MAiD, personal autonomy and shared decision-making
• MAiD and a harm reduction approach
• MAiD in the broader context of ageism and ableism
• MAiD and the ethics of aging
• MAiD and epistemic injustice
• MAiD and the ethics of care
• MAiD and organ donation
• The commodification of assisted suicide services
• Perspectives from critical disability, queer, crip and mad studies
• Perspectives from indigenous studies
• Conservative recuperation of feminist (and crip) critiques of MAiD

Selection criteria for proposals:

Proposals will be selected on the basis of the following criteria: relevance to the general theme of the symposium; thesis and objectives that are clear and relevant; originality of reflection on the issues addressed; contribution to the advancement of knowledge.

Format for proposals and deadlines:

The abstract must be written in French. The abstract (1500 characters including spaces) must be accompanied by a title (180 characters including spaces). Paper proposals must be sent in Word format by January 15, 2025 to Naima Hamrouni and Yoann Della Croce. Please indicate “ACFAS Aide médicale à mourir” in the subject line. Successful proposals will receive email confirmation by February 8, 2025.

For reasons of accessibility, we are considering a bimodal format for this symposium. Please indicate whether you plan to attend in-person or remotely.

Conference registration is compulsory for all participants, whether in-person or online. Registration fees and travel expenses are the responsibility of participants. If financial support is required, please mention this in the submission email (the team has a small budget to support students, junior researchers or professors without funding).

Organized by: Naïma Hamrouni, Yoann Della Croce, and Daniel Weinstock