Quality End-of-life Care Coalition of Canada (QELCCC)

On June 6, 2000, the Senate of Canada issued the report Quality End-of-Life Care: The Right of Every Canadian. This report was an update of the Senate’s 1995 report, Of Life and Death. In the intervening five years, the Senate discovered that little progress had been made on its 1995 recommendations. The 2000 report contains strong recommendations to ensure that Canadians have access to high quality end-of-life care. The Quality End-of-Life Care Coalition of Canada (QELCCC) supports the recommendations made in the 2000 Senate Report.

The first recommendation of the Senate report is that the federal government, in collaboration with the provinces & territories, develop a Canadian strategy for end-of-life care. The Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (formerly the Canadian Palliative Care Association) discussed the Senate report with several of its national partner groups such as the Canadian Cancer Society, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the ALS Society of Canada, and the Canadian Association of Retired Persons. It quickly became clear that national voluntary sector groups are concerned about end-of-life care and wish to see a well-funded, sustainable Canadian strategy that would include a strong voice of the voluntary sector and of patients and their families.