February 19 2008 – Thunder Bay, ON  ~ Lakehead University's Centre for Heath Care Ethics (CHCE) is pleased to host Dr. Margaret Somerville as its next Encounters in Bioethics speaker on Wednesday, February 20.  Dr. Somerville's lecture is presented in concert with the CHCE's 10th anniversary.

"Dr. Somerville has been active in the worldwide development of bioethics," says Dr. Jaro Kotalik, Director of Lakehead's Centre for Health Care Ethics.  "She has played an invaluable role in the study of the wider legal and ethical aspects of medicine and science, and we are thrilled to invite her to our campus to celebrate our Centre's continued success in disseminating information in this field of study."

Somerville presents "Where Do I Come From: Does Every Child Have a Right to Natural Parents and to Know Their Identity?" The premise of this talk stems from DNA research which was made public by U.K. media on February 5, 2008.  After 10 three-parent (one man and two women) embryos were formed in a lab at Newcastle University in England, the embryos began to develop normally, but were destroyed within six days.  After the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) reversed its decision to ban the procedure, UK researchers have since been given the go-ahead to create an embryo which will contain DNA from three people.

Among other issues, Somerville's lecture will explore the question as to whether or not we should be concerned about this matter.  The presentation takes place at 6:00 p.m. in Lakehead's ATAC 1003.  This is a free event and everyone is welcome to attend.  Call 807-343-8126 for more information.  In concert with the Centre for Heath Care Ethics 10th Anniversary, Dr. Margaret Somerville presents her Bioethics lecture entitled "Where Do I Come From: Does Every Child Have a Right to Natural Parents and to Know Their Identity?"


Margaret Somerville is a Samuel Gale Professor of Law; Professor, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University; and Founding Director, Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, McGill University. She has an extensive national and international publishing and speaking record and is a frequent commentator in all forms of media. She is deeply committed to the public's right to be involved in the decision-making shaping our society.  To this end, she has authored The Ethical Canary: Science, Society and the Human Spirit and Death Talk: the Case against Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide.  She has edited Do We Care? Renewing Canada's Commitment to Health, Proceedings of the first Directions for Canadian Health Care conference; and co-edited. Transdisciplinarity: reCreating Integrated Knowledge. Professor Somerville regularly consults, both nationally and internationally, to a wide variety of bodies including governments, United Nations organizations, and non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), especially regarding ethics and public policy.  She has served on many editorial and advisory boards, as well as boards of directors.  She has received many honours and awards including the Order of Australia, and in 2003, she became the first recipient of the UNESCO Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science. Most recently, she delivered the 2006 CBC Massey Lectures, The Ethical Imagination: Journeys of the Human Spirit, which are also published as a book by House of Anansi Press.