Join us for the McGill Journal of Law & Health’s flagship event of the year.

The MJLH’s 24th Annual Colloquium, When Care Becomes Control: Who Decides for Children?, brings together leading scholars, clinicians, and practitioners to examine how Canadian law governs, and at times constrains, decision-making in children’s healthcare.

This year’s presentations will explore the legal and ethical boundaries of authority over children’s bodies and lives, including legislative efforts to restrict access to gender-affirming care for minors; the evolving role of judges and lawmakers in family and child protection law; consent in pediatric care and the interaction between clinical ethics and legal norms; and the limits of parental decision-making in medical contexts, including issues of proportionality of care and therapeutic obstinacy. The discussion will also address the enduring impacts of medical colonialism on Indigenous children and communities, as well as legal and policy barriers that deny uninsured children, particularly those affected by precarious immigration status, meaningful access to Québec’s public healthcare system.

The evening will conclude with a moderated roundtable discussion bringing these perspectives into dialogue, followed by an opportunity for audience questions.

The colloquium will take place at Thomson House, with refreshments served throughout the evening and a cocktail reception with food afterward, offering attendees the chance to engage directly with our guest speakers.