[Right_to_die] Park bench plaques part of a two-man campaign for dignified deaths

[World right-to-die news list (nonprofit)]

The Mystery of the Canadian “dignityindeath.com” Park Bench Plaques Solved!

By Richard N. Cote’

In November 2009, memorial plaques dedicated to the lives of three 
people who had died distressing deaths from terminal illnesses started 
to appear on park benches in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The sponsor of 
the plaques was “dignityindeath.com,” a group I had never heard of. 
After contacting leaders of major pro- and anti-euthanasia groups for 
information about the group, I found that no one else had ever heard of 
them, either.  Hmmm. A mystery!

Their website is both elegant and restrained in its graphic design. 
However its home page consists solely of a statement of belief in the 
right to die as a personal choice and civil right. From there, links 
take the reader to other sites describing living wills and right-to-die 
groups.  Period. The site does not solicit memberships or money. No 
officers or staff are listed, and the only contact information is a 
generic email address. However, the site credits its designer, The 
Cundari Group, a Toronto advertising company.

Today I interviewed the plaque project’s art director, Andy McKay, a 
friendly Brit. He and his creative partner at Cundari, Andy Manson, had 
been profoundly moved by “bad deaths” within their own circles of 
friends and family. Both had lost parents, and wanted to spread 
awareness of living wills and Canadian death-with-dignity groups.

As a break from designing corporate websites, they created this public 
awareness project, which is not affiliated with any established 
right-to-die group or organization. First they commissioned three brass 
plaques, each bearing the story of a fictional person and his or her 
fictional death scenario. Then they used PhotoShop to create inexpensive 
plastic replica stickers, fifty or sixty of which they placed on Toronto 
park benches.

The project is ongoing, McKay said, and is a way to use their 
professional skills to spread awareness in Canada of living wills and 
the right to die. It is not an attempt to start any kind of 
“organization” or to solicit any money for any reason. “It’s just a 
personal conviction of ours," McKay said. We paid for it out of our own 
pockets.”

  Two of the “plaques” may be viewed at

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/09/ad-campaign-for-pro-.html  and at

http://adsoftheworld.com/media/ambient/dignity_in_death_rosa_maria .

	------ Richard N. Cote’ / dickcote at earthlink.net / 
www.insearchofgentledeath.com  --- North Carolina