Brian Bird, a 2019-20 John and Daria Barry Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University, researches in the areas of constitutional law, constitutional theory, and human rights. His academic writing has been published in venues such as the Dalhousie Law Journal, Cambridge Law Review, Alberta Law Review, Supreme Court Law Review, and Manitoba Law Journal. He has published shorter pieces in venues such as Policy Options, CBC News, National Post, and the Ottawa Citizen. He served as a law clerk for several judges of the Supreme Court of British Columbia and for Justice Andromache Karakatsanis of the Supreme Court of Canada. In 2014, he was called to the Bar of British Columbia. He completed the Doctor of Civil Law at McGill University with funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Law Foundation of British Columbia. His doctorate explored freedom of conscience. He also holds a B.C.L. from the University of Oxford, a J.D. from the University of Victoria, and a B.A. from Simon Fraser University.
Much work must be done to restore the proper understanding of personhood - what it means to be human - in societies that permit euthanasia. This work will take not just years, but decades and possibly even longer than that.
Date posted: 2023-12-31
Moral and ethical reflection, making normative sense of the world and striving to live accordingly, is an essential part of being human. Public leaders need to better grasp the role that conscience rights play in a free and democratic society. If they do not, freedom of conscience and the kind of society we cherish will eventually disappear.
Date posted: 2021-10-21
It seems particularly disturbing to imagine legalizing euthanasia in this moment, let alone expanding access to euthanasia if it is already legal. Even so, this is precisely what is underway in Canada.
Date posted: 2020-07-02