MONTREAL — Nicole Gladu, the Quebec woman who fought to expand the right to medical aid in dying, has died of natural causes.
A death notice said Gladu, who suffered from an incurable degenerative disease called post‐poliomyelitis syndrome, died Sunday in Montreal.
In 2019, the Quebec Superior Court ruled in favour of Gladu and another incurably ill Quebecer, Jean Truchon, who had argued the laws on medical aid in dying were too restrictive and violated their rights to access the procedure.
The judge invalidated the Criminal Code requirement that a natural death be “reasonably foreseeable” before someone can be eligible for assisted death, and the judge also struck down the provincial requirement that people be at the end of life.
Federal Justice Minister David Lametti praised Gladu in a Twitter post, saying she "made the whole country reflect what suffering and dignity meant."
"My deepest condolences to her family and loved ones," he wrote.
A longtime friend of Gladu says the former journalist and trade unionist fought for fairness and justice, adding that she also loved life. "She fought, not because she didn't love to live, quite the contrary," Micheline Raymond, who knew her for more than 50 years, said.
"The proof is that she never used (medical aid in dying). She lived to the end, to the end of her strength."
Gladu and Truchon fought the clauses in the legislation that denied them access to medical aid in dying because their deaths were not "reasonably foreseeable," even though they were suffering from painful and incurable conditions.
"What she found hard was that MAID was for people who knew in how many months they would die, whereas with a degenerative disease like she had, it was impossible," Raymond said.
"However, her suffering was very great. She fought because she thought it wouldn't be fair for her."
Truchon died in 2020 with medical assistance.
Gladu told reporters in 2017 she wanted to die at home, surrounded by friends, "with a glass of rose champagne in one hand and a canapé of foie gras in the other."
"At age 71, I am concerned far more by the quality of my life than by its extension," she said at the time.
Raymond says she'll remember Gladu for her strong personality and her love of life and travel.
A private funeral will take place later this month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2022.
Johanna Pellus, The Canadian Press
