Russel Ogden's Thesis At Simon Fraser University

Russel Ogden’s topic in the early 1990s for his MA thesis at Simon Fraser University (SFU) helped to start up his long involvement with controversy. By deciding to conduct research on assisted suicide among people living with HIV/AIDS), Ogden became involved in a contentious moral and political debate. As he continued his research, he soon encountered a second controversial issue – academic freedom. Later, in early 2015, a third area of controversy happened, this one about his status with his employer.
Soon after successfully defending his thesis in early 1994, Ogden received a subpoena to appear at a British Columbia Coroner’s Jury that was looking at a suspected case of assisted suicide. Under the Section 241 of the Criminal Code of Canada, anyone (including a doctor) who helps someone to commit suicide is guilty of an indictable offence and can receive a prison term of up to fourteen years (Government of Canada Justice Laws). Authorities believed that Ogden had some knowledge of the matter. When he was asked to

identify some of the people he had interviewed as part of his research, Ogden refused (Blomley and Davis).
Knowing that he could be found in contempt of court, that people he had interviewed could be prosecuted and that the SFU administration had decided not to help him defend the right to confidentiality, Ogden paid for his own lawyer and won his case. The Coroner agreed that Ogden’s communications were privileged and that he could not be forced to talk about them.
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After that, Ogden sued SFU to compensate him for his legal fees and loss of income. The lawsuit was failed, but the judge strongly criticized SFU for its “surprising lack of courage” and its “hollow and timid approach” to defending academic freedom (Lowman and Palys).
In 1995, probably thinking that his chances of success in a doctoral program at a Canadian university were low, Ogden moved to England and enrolled in a PhD program at the University of Exeter. At first, that school’s ethics committee agreed to protect the anonymity of more than one hundred people Ogden interviewed who had helped terminally ill AIDS patients commit suicide in Canada, Britain, the USA and the Netherlands. Three years later, however, Ogden was informed that Exeter had decided not to honor that promise. Ogden challenged what he considered to be a breach of promise and he was awarded about $140,000 in damages. (Hager).
In 2004, after returning to Canada, Ogden was hired as a full-time faculty member at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU), and he taught courses on the sociology of death and the socio-legal aspects of assisted death. Then, about a year later, KPU approved his attendance at assisted suicides and authorized him to conduct research on the subject. The university, soon had second opinion on this and consulted two lawyers and in 2006 instructed Ogden not to engage in any illegal activities, including being present at an assisted death. Despite attempts by the Canadian Association of University Teachers to resolve the situation informally, KPU stayed with its position (CAUT). Eventually, in 2008, Russell Ogden and KPU arrived at a “settlement agreement” that placed put him on “research leave” for two years beginning January 1, 2009, with the understanding that he would return to teaching in 2011. The day before he was
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scheduled to resume his teaching duties, Ogden signed a confidentiality agreement with KPU (Hager).
In January 2015, the matter of Russel Ogden’s ongoing status with KPU became public. The National Post and the Vancouver Sun reported that Ogden was paid $87,910 by KPU during the previous fiscal year and that the university administration refused to say what services he provided for this money:
Mr. Ogden left the KPU campus and while he didn’t return in 2011 as scheduled, he continued to draw salary like a full-time instructor. He didn’t really seem to be on “research leave,” because there appeared to be no oversight or reports of his research activities, something that would normally be expected. Mr. Ogden’s KPU colleagues say he did participate in certain university-related functions, such as union meetings. Just never on school property.
“Russel Ogden has been successfully disappeared from this institution,” says Greg Jenion, a fellow KPU criminology professor. “The administration has put a lid of silence over [the matter]. They will not speak to it.” (Hutchinson, Todd)
When Russel Ogden began his research in the early 1990s, few Canadians would have predicted how much assisted suicide would become a major legal and political issue over the next two decades or how much Ogden’s views would be more traditional. In a landmark decision in February 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled that a very old section in the Criminal Code that made it illegal to help another person commit suicide was unconstitutional. Federal and provincial governments were given one year to draft new legislation to legalize physician-assisted suicide (Fine). To add strength to the position of the Supreme Court (as well
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as to the once-radical views of Russel Ogden) a Forum Poll in May 2015 found that 78 percent of Canadians believed that physician-assisted suicide should be legalized (Forum Research).
Russel Ogden’s determination to keep his promises to the people he interviewed and to defend the rights of academic researchers to keep the identities of their sources confidential has probably damaged his career and reputation. By challenging the positions and actions of SFU and KPU, he most likely risked his working prospects with them and other universities, as well as his chances of obtaining a doctorate. Ogden showed his 1996 article in the Simon Fraser News how strongly he is a believer of free inquiry and is willing to challenge opposing views:
ALL RESEARCH INVOLVING human subjects share a common link. Whether
it be investigation into white-collar crime, child prostitution, or police corruption, subjects won't divulge sensitive information if they risk punishment. For this reason, the professional convention of researchers is to take pains to protect the confidentiality and anonymity of research participants.
SFU's 20-month-old draft research policy, R20.01, would effectively outlaw inquiry into illegal behavior because it expects researchers to cooperate with any "court or other legal body" pursuing confidentially obtained data. Under the camouflage of "informed consent," the policy requires researchers to inform participants that "guarantees" of confidentiality are only genuine as long as no authority challenges them (Ogden).
As a result of his activities since the early 1990s, Russel Ogden has become well known, not just in the academic community but among the general public too. Early accounts of his
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dispute with SFU over his rights as a researcher were published in academic periodicals and would probably have been mostly read by members of the university community.
Described as an “internationally known assisted-suicide expert (Todd), Ogden and his activities have received a great amount of exposure.

A Google search of his name on May 30, 2015, for instance, came up with about 350,000 results. His involvement with assisted suicide and his ongoing stalemate with KPU have attracted the attention of printed and broadcast media (including CNN) in North America and Europe. One aspect that has probably attracted the interest of some media in reporting on Ogden’s research is some of the graphic details that have revealed. Even the respected New York Times once reported:
In five cases, victims were unsuccessfully suffocated. In one case, the people who assisted in the suicide resorted to slitting the victim's wrists with a razor blade and in another case to shooting him. Two were injected with pure heroin. Many of the acts of euthanasia took several hours or longer to be completed. In one case it took four days

(Farnsworth).
Although Ogden has kept a low profile at KPU since 2008, he has continued to be involved in the cause of assisted suicide. He lives in the Vancouver area and is an activist in what he calls “Nu-Tech deathing methods.” He is the director of the Farewell Foundation for the Right to Die, an international organization. Although the Vancouver Police once arrested Ogden after he was believed to have witness a suicide (he was immediately released) he has never been charged or convicted of a crime. He told reporters in early 2015 that he attended at least eight assisted suicides in Canada since leaving his teaching work (Hager), but maintains that he has only observed and has never participated (Todd). He has continued to contribute articles to
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various publications and once posted a video on YouTube that told about a painless and almost undetectable way to use helium to commit suicide.
It should be noted that Russel Ogden was awarded the Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy in 1995. During the two decades that have past since then, he has continued to challenge traditional thinking, both in his academic field and in society. The recent decision of the Supreme Court and polling on physician-assisted suicide, however, suggests that Ogden’s views are now much less revolutionary than they were.
Russel Ogden, probably at considerable personal sacrifice, has become recognized as a leading advocate of the right-to-die cause. He is also a curious learner, eager to continue to explore many questions that still need be answered. As he said in an interview in early 2015, “This is extraordinary research. It’s very unusual to watch somebody’s suicide, and it comes with a whole host of ethical and legal issues that have to be navigated.”