Most debates about death revolve around what happens after we die, but over the last couple of years, Vancouver filmmaker Kevin Eastwood has grown fascinated by the moment of death itself.
Like many people going about the business of their daily lives, Eastwood didn’t think much about death until he was staring it in the face. He saw it repeatedly while directing the first season of the Knowledge Network series, Emergency Room: Life + Death at VGH.
“Making that show was a transformative experience, and we were, in the first season, present for the end of life moments of 22 people,” says Eastwood, who’s produced a myriad of film and TV projects, including The Romeo Section, Preggoland, and Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World. “Having never had that experience even once, then to have that volume in one period of time definitely makes you think about things.”
Eastwood’s newfound understanding that death wasn’t merely some abstract concept, coupled with his own cardiac arrest around the same time and the right-to-die battle of the grandmother of one of his closest friends, inspired Eastwood to produce a film about Carter v. Canada, a BC-based right-to-die case, as its legal team made its arguments to the Supreme Court of Canada in February 2015.
The result is The Death Debate, a 45-minute documentary currently airing on TELUS Optik TV and online.
Suicide isn’t illegal in Canada, but doctor-assisted suicide has long been another story.
The last time the Supreme Court of Canada tackled the issue of assisted suicide was in 1993, when BC resident Sue Rodriguez challenged the criminality of assisted suicide in a landmark case. Rodriguez lost her battle, but in 2011, the BC Civil Liberties Association reopened the issue of assisted dying when they filed a lawsuit against the Government of Canada.
The BC legal team – which included celebrated civil rights lawyer Joe Arvay, and co-counsels Sheila Tucker and Alison Latimer – worked pro-bono on behalf of Gloria Taylor, Lee Carter, Hollis Johnson, Elaine Shapray, and other seriously ill Canadians and their families.
The team won in the Supreme Court of BC, but the decision was overturned in the BC Court of Appeal – which spurred the team to take this case all of the way to the top court in the land.
That’s where Eastwood came in. In The Death Debate, Eastwood presents the history of the right-to-die movement and follows the legal team as they prep for the Supreme Court of Canada.
Despite the focus on Arvay et al, this isn’t a one-sided film. Eastwood endeavored to present both sides of the issue. “I’m never interested in one-sided documentaries,” he says. “I always think it’s important to let both sides speak.”
But actually including the other side was easier said than done. “In this situation, I really wanted to speak to the legal team that was acting on behalf of the government, and one of the lawyers was keen, but unfortunately, her bosses said no,” says Eastwood, who thus relied on anti-euthanasia advocate Dr. Will Johnston to provide the other side. “She wasn’t allowed to. That was obviously the previous government, and their policy was one of muzzling.”
The Carter case came down to two points; namely, that the law as it existed with regards to assisted suicide directly violated our rights to life and equality as protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Spoiler alert: the Supreme Court of Canada reversed its position on assisted suicide in February 2015 thanks to the Carter case – and The Death Debate provides some behind-the-scenes insight into the workings of the Supreme Court of Canada, because Eastwood quite literally filmed behind the scenes at the nation’s top court as the legal team from BC made their arguments and awaited the court’s decision.
Eastwood’s favourite moment from filming occurred on decision day. He was present in one of the Supreme Court’s many backrooms when the legal team came in with the news that they’d won. The group was overcome with emotion.
“I think people often think lawyers are these cold figures that are just dealing with this in a very pragmatic way and aren’t emotionally engaged, but that really showed that was anything but the case,” says Eastwood.
“These are people that were very, very moved and affected by the outcome of this, and that was both inspiring and heartwarming, and I saw that they were recognizing the impact of what their work was, to Canadians, to law, in a whole bunch of ways. I felt like I was present for a historic moment.”
View The Death Debate online on YouTube or on TELUS Optik TV.
