Rhonda Clarke is willing to make herself sick if it means more people will sign a petition asking the government to develop right-to-die legislation.
The St. Thomas woman is mounting a 'hunger strike' in an effort to collect 25,000 signatures on a petition she is circulating. The petition asks the government to legislate death with dignity by euthanasis for those who are terminally ill and choose to die.
It's her second attempt to draw attention to the issue. Her first was foiled last April when the federal government refused to accept her 50,000-name petition because it was not done in the right format. Mrs. Clarke said she was told the petition would be taken under consideration, but not counted.
This time, she said, her petition will be seen and accepted.
"When you do it twice, you make sure something happens," she said.
To date she has already collected 25,000 signatures from as far away as Brantford.
Although she works at a chip wagon, Mrs. Clarke doesn't expect to have any problems avoiding food. She actually started weaning herself off solid foods earlier in the week and will live on fluids during her campaign.
"I'm a little worried," she said. "(But) I don't say something and don't do it."
Mrs. Clarke launched her first campaign in 1993 after befriending Erwin Krickhahn, who was suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. He died earlier this year.
The city resident hopes to collect 50,000 signatures by September, when she plans to visit Ottawa to present them to government officials. Her ultimate goal is to speak one-on-one with Prime Minister Jean Chretien.
