Jocelyn Downie | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | 1962 (age 61–62) Kingston, Ontario, Canada |
Academic background | |
Education | B.A., M.A., Queen's University LLB., University of Toronto LLM, SJD, University of Michigan |
Thesis | Dying justice: an argument for law reform with respect to voluntary assisted death in Canada. (1999) |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Schulich School of Law |
Main interests | end-of-life law,policy,and care |
Jocelyn Grant Downie OC FRSC is the James S. Palmer Chair in Public Policy and Law at Schulich School of Law. She was the first Dalhousie scholar to be named a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Fellow.
While studying at Queen's University,Downie volunteered at Kingston General Hospital as a candy striper. While there,she saw an advertisement for palliative care volunteers and trained to become one. [1] After earning her Bachelor of Arts and Master's degree,Downie earned her M.Litt at the University of Cambridge. Upon her return to Canada,Downie accepted a position as a research associate at the Westminster Institute for Ethics and Human Values. [2]
After law school,Downie clerked for Chief Justice Lamer at the Supreme Court of Canada,and after graduate school she was the director of Dalhousie Health Law Institute. [3] In 2004,she published "Dying Justice:A Case for Decriminalizing Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in Canada." [4] In her role as director,she was selected to be a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy [5] and sat on the Experts Committee for Human Research Participant Protection in Canada. [6] In 2010,Downie was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. [7]
In 2015,Downie was involved in the result of Carter v Canada. She served as a Special Advisor to the Canadian Senate Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide and worked with the pro bono legal team in the case. [8] In the same year,Downie became the first scholar in Nova Scotia to be named a Pierre Trudeau Trudeau Foundation Fellow. [9] She used this fellowship to gather data regarding assisted dying in Canada. [10] She also sat on the Provincial-Territorial Expert Advisory Group on Physician-Assisted Dying. [11] The next year,she received the 2016 CIHR Barer-Flood Prize in Health Services and Policy Research. [12] On July 1,2016,Downie was appointed to University Research Professor for a five-year period. [13]
In 2018,Downie was appointed the James S. Palmer Chair in Public Policy and Law at Schulich School of Law. [3] She was also named a member of the Order of Canada. [14]
Dalhousie University is a large public research university in Nova Scotia,Canada,with three campuses in Halifax,a fourth in Bible Hill,and a second medical school campus in Saint John,New Brunswick. Dalhousie offers over 200 degree programs in 13 undergraduate,graduate,and professional faculties. The university is a member of the U15,a group of research-intensive universities in Canada.
The minister of health is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing health-focused government agencies including Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada,as well as enforcing the Canada Health Act,the law governing Canada's universal health care system.
A. Anne McLellan is a Canadian politician and academic who served as the ninth deputy prime minister of Canada from 2003 to 2006. She was a cabinet minister in the Liberal governments of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin,and represented Edmonton in the House of Commons of Canada. She also held the positions of solicitor general,minister of health,and minister of justice of Canada.
The Schulich School of Law is the law school of Dalhousie University in Halifax,Nova Scotia,Canada. Founded in 1883 as Dalhousie Law School,it is the oldest university-based common law school in Canada. It adopted its current name in October 2009 after receiving a $20-million endowment from Canadian businessman and philanthropist Seymour Schulich.
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. NSERC directly funds university professors and students as well as Canadian companies to perform research and training. With funding from the Government of Canada,NSERC supports the research of over 41,000 students,trainees and professors at universities and colleges in Canada with an annual budget of CA$1.1 billion in 2015. Its current director is Alejandro Adem.
Seymour Schulich is a Canadian businessman,investor,author,and philanthropist.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research is a federal agency responsible for funding health and medical research in Canada. Comprising 13 institutes,it is the successor to the Medical Research Council of Canada.
Joan Bissett Neiman was a Canadian politician who served as a senator from 1972 to 1995.
The Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies is a non-profit,academic law journal that publishes work from current law students and recent alumni in Canada and throughout the world. It is produced by students from the Schulich School of Law.
Jane Philpott is a physician,academic administrator,and former Canadian politician who represented the riding of Markham—Stouffville in the House of Commons. She was first elected in the 2015 federal election as a member of the Liberal Party and was appointed to the Cabinet of the 29th Canadian Ministry,headed by Justin Trudeau,on November 4,2015. On March 4,2019,she resigned from her cabinet position as President of the Treasury Board over the SNC-Lavalin affair. On April 2,2019,she and Jody Wilson-Raybould were expelled from the Liberal caucus in the aftermath of the controversy.
Françoise Elvina BaylisFISC is a Canadian bioethicist whose work is at the intersection of applied ethics,health policy,and practice. The focus of her research is on issues of women's health and assisted reproductive technologies,but her research and publication record also extend to such topics as research involving humans,gene editing,novel genetic technologies,public health,the role of bioethics consultants,and neuroethics. Baylis' interest in the impact of bioethics on health and public policy as well as her commitment to citizen engagement]and participatory democracy sees her engage with print,radio,television,and other online publications.
Timothy Allen Caulfield is a Canadian professor of law at the University of Alberta,the research director of its Health Law Institute,and current Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy. He specializes in legal,policy and ethical issues in medical research and its commercialization. In addition to professional publications,he is the author of several books aimed at the general reader and host of a television documentary series debunking pseudoscientific myths. He is a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.
Christine Therese Chambers is a Canadian clinical psychologist at Dalhousie University. She holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Children's Pain.
Maike van Niekerk is a Canadian activist,author,entrepreneur and medical student. She was raised in Corner Brook,Newfoundland. She founded the cancer charity Katrin's Karepackage,following the death of her mother,Katrin Kohler. Maike completed a PhD in Psychiatry at the University of Oxford,where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She previously completed a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Dalhousie University,as a Schulich Leader Scholar.
Colleen M. Flood is the Dean of Queen's University Faculty of Law.
Sherry Heather Stewart is a Canadian clinical psychologist. She is also a Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at Dalhousie University and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Addiction and Mental Health.
Susan Anne Kirkland is a Canadian epidemiologist. She is the Associate Director of the Geriatric Medicine Unit at Dalhousie University and one of three Principal Investigators on the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.
Steven Justin Hoffman is a Canadian health scientist. In 2016,he was appointed Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Population and Public Health. He also serves as the Dahdaleh Distinguished Chair In Global Governance &Legal Epidemiology at York University.
Rebecca Jane Rylett is a Canadian molecular neurobiologist. As of 2019,she is the Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Aging. As a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Western Ontario,Rylett also served as an Associate Dean in the Schulich School of Medicine &Dentistry and chair of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology.
Heather Evelyn Castleden is a Canadian geographer. Since 2021,she has been an Impact Chair in Transformative Governance for Planetary Health at the University of Victoria. She was previously the Canada Research Chair in Reconciling Relations for Health,Environments,and Communities at Queen's University at Kingston.