A group that believes all Canadians should have the right to end their own lives will argue its case at the B.C. Supreme Court this week after the province refused to allow the group to incorporate as a non-profit business.

The Farewell Foundation For The Right to Die believes its members "have the right to make choices about their own bodies, their physical and psychological integrity, and their basic human dignity."

"The Foundation believes its members should have the right to receive assistance to end their lives, and that members should have the right to provide assistance," states a document on the group's website.

In Canada, it is a criminal offence to help someone commit suicide, and the action comes with a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

Because the group's aims are considered illegal, its application for non-profit status was denied by the B.C. Registrar of Companies.

That decision triggered an appeal by the Farewell Foundation, which argued that they should be accredited and that law banning assisted suicide is not constitutional.

The group also filed a civil suit against the Attorney General of Canada to challenge the constitutionality of the law. That suit will go to a court hearing on Wednesday, when the Attorney General will apply to have the suit stricken.

It is expected that the matter could end up in the Supreme Court of Canada.

In a separate case, a B.C. woman is asking that the province's top court speed up her right-to-die lawsuit so she can have an assisted suicide.

Gloria Taylor, who suffers from ALS, has worsening health and her lawyer is pushing for a November trial date. But federal lawyers say that a November date is unworkable since a ruling could have such large consequences for others.

A ruling to fast track the case will be released Wednesday.

Current laws cause "immeasurable pain" says group

In an affidavit filed on March 10, Russel Ogden of the Farewell Foundation argued that Canada's current laws cause "immeasurable" pain and psychological suffering to people of sound mind who could otherwise make a decision to end their own lives.

"This suffering is certain and it is as extreme as any suffering humanity must endure. This case tests whether Parliament is entitled to cause such suffering to the people of Canada," Ogden wrote as part of the application to incorporate the organization.

In its July 4 newsletter, the Farewell Foundation said Canada's assisted suicide laws haven't been challenged since 1993. At that time, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that ALS sufferer Sue Rodriguez was not entitled to have assistance with her suicide.

The court said at the time that the purpose of the law was to protect vulnerable people who might agree to a suicide in a moment of weakness.

"We believe that times have changed since the Rodriguez case and that there is overwhelming evidence to show that voluntary assisted death can be provided without undue risk to vulnerable people," the group's newsletter stated.

But there is more to the 1993 assisted suicide case, according to Ogden's March court filing.

In fact, the filing claimed that Rodriguez eventually, and covertly, received suicide help from an unnamed doctor. Former MP Sven Robinson, who acted as an advocated for Rodriguez, corroborated that claim.

The group argues that such suicides should not have to be carried out in secret.

The Farewell Foundation's goal is to eventually help usher in a suicide law similar to the one in place in Switzerland, where neither the act of suicide, nor providing assistance to someone committing suicide, is a criminal offence.

Ogden, who is a criminology instructor at B.C.'s Kwantlen Polytechnic University, said his goal is to ensure there is an option for terminally ill patients.

Ogden has personally witnessed five suicides, he stated in one of the affidavits, including one in which he accompanied a Canadian woman to Europe.

With a report from The Canadian Press