Mr. Speaker, today we are talking about Bill C-7, an act to amend the Criminal Code with respect to medical assistance in dying. While I realize this is a very sensitive and difficult issue, I want to be very clear that I will not be supporting the bill. I would like to take a few minutes to talk about why that is and to provide some context to all Canadians, specifically from my constituents in Niagara West.
On February 6, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that grievously suffering patients had the right to ask for help in ending their lives. This was the Carter v. Canada decision. The court declared that paragraph 241(b) and section 14 of the Criminal Code, which prohibited assistance in terminating life, infringed upon the charter right to life, liberty and security of the person for individuals who want to access an assisted death.
The Supreme Court decision was suspended for a year to give the government time to enact legislation that reconciled the charter rights of individuals, doctors and patients. As a result, the government introduced Bill C-14 on April 14, 2016, which received royal assent on June 17, 2016. Medical assistance in dying has been legal since then.
On September 11 of last year, the Superior Court of Québec found that it was unconstitutional to limit access to medical assistance in dying to people nearing their end of life. Basically, the court said that the Criminal Code requirement that natural death should be reasonably foreseeable to get medical assistance in dying is against the rights and freedoms of Canadians as they are written in the charter. It is important to note this ruling will come into effect on December 18, 2020, unless a third extension is granted by the court.
The focus and priority of all of us in the chamber should be to ensure safeguards are always in place for the most vulnerable in our society. We also have to keep in mind that we need to be respectful and accepting of the conscience rights of physicians and health professionals. Doctors are trained to save lives, not to end them. I actually believe we should go a step further and protect the conscience rights of all health care professionals.
I am supportive of doctors and health care providers who are not willing to leave their core ethics behind when they are at their patient's bedside. I do not believe it is appropriate to force a doctor or other health care provider to participate in assisted suicide. I also do not believe it is appropriate to hire or fire an employee based on their willingness to be involved in assisted suicide. Physicians who wish to follow their conscience on serious moral issues should be free to do so. Again, we need to be respectful and accepting of the conscience rights of physicians and health professionals.
The last time I voted on this issue, I went through the legislation, which at the time was Bill C-14, and I made a determination that it did not include sufficient safeguards for those most vulnerable, so I opposed it. I had the chance to examine the current bill before us today and I still do not think it has sufficient safeguards, so I will oppose it again.
Let us be clear about something. Medical assistance in dying is a tremendously difficult issue to debate. It absolutely is. It is a highly emotional topic for all sides, and there are many factors and personal convictions that come into play. In the House we agree on many things, but we also disagree strongly on others. The key is to respect one another in the process as we discuss sensitive issues, especially issues relating to human life. Medical assistance in dying has to do with some of the most vulnerable people in our society. That is why it is important we, as representatives of the people who voted for us, have utmost respect for all who have an opinion on this topic. This includes many folks in my riding of Niagara West who are people of faith and disagree with what this bill would do.
I would like to highlight some critical evidence from an expert who appeared before the Quebec superior court on this issue. Dr. Mark Sinyor is a Canadian psychiatrist widely recognized for his clinical expertise and research on suicide prevention. He was an expert witness in the case, who provided important testimony before the Quebec superior court.
In his 50-page affidavit, Dr. Sinyor detailed for the court the likely impact of expanding medical assistance in dying to those who are not at the end of their lives. He notes that under an expanded law, which is what we have in front of us here today, physicians would bring about a death that is not otherwise foreseeable. This is something that is exceptionally difficult to accept for many Canadians across the country and for many in my riding of Niagara West. Issues like the planned legal death of someone who is terminally ill is a very delicate matter to begin with, but to open up the door for more people to qualify for a planned death, a legal death, to me and to many of my constituents, is very troubling.
I would like to return to Dr. Sinyor again.
He talks about a well-established phenomenon referred to as suicide contagion. Dr. Sinyor explains that suicide contagion occurs “through a process called social learning in which vulnerable people identify with others who have had suicidal thoughts and/or behaviour.” He goes on to say, “Expansion of MAID to include suffering, not at the end of life is likely to lead to suicide contagion and higher suicide rates, and to have a negative impact on suicide prevention.”
Dr. Sinyor also talks about the extent to which many elderly people with chronic conditions and younger people with severe disabilities are impacted. He says that they “feel like a burden to their loved ones and that their families would be better off if they were dead.”
When one of our friends, of family members or loved ones is in a similar circumstance and they begin to think that they will be solving this problem of being a burden, knowing that this law will allow it, would it be more comfortable for us? My answer is no, I do not think it would be.
To quote Dr. Sinyor again, “Normalizing suicide death via MAID as a remedy for suffering not at the end of life is likely to increase suicide rates in Canada at a time where there is a universal consensus among public and mental health experts of the imperative to decrease suicide rates.”
In short, the bill would simply make it possible for a person to choose to access medical assistance to end their life, even if their death is not reasonably foreseeable. I am concerned for people with disabilities. I am concerned that, if passed, the legislation will allow people with disabilities to die with medical assistance because they have a disability.
Michael Bach, managing director for the Institute for Research and Development on Inclusion and Society confirms this, saying “people who are not at the end of life will nevertheless be able to access assisted death on the basis that their disability is grievous and irremediable and they experience suffering they find intolerable.” I am concerned that people with disabilities may be coerced into ending their life while they are in a state of personal suffering.
Michael Bach also said, “Negative stereotypes are an undeniable cause of disability-related disadvantage and suffering. The Quebec Superior Court struck a blow to social rights in Canada when it rejected the end of life requirement.”
One of Bach's most striking statements on this issue is that the court's decision “institutionalizes the idea that disability can justify terminating a life. Stereotypes don’t get much worse than that.”
I am afraid that the bill may reinforce horrible stereotypes that a life with a disability is a life not worth living or that living with a disability is a fate worse than death. This cannot happen. I am also concerned that the suffering may not be caused by the disability but because of a lack of services and supports needed by many people with disabilities to lead a full life.
As an example, we have the story of Sean Tagert, a B.C. man who was living with ALS. Sean chose to access medical assistance in dying because he was unable to secure funding for the 24-hour care he needed to live in his home, in his community and raise his young son. The story is heartbreaking. This young man chose death because he was unable to get the proper care for his disability, and he left a young child behind.
It is so sad to hear stories like this. That is why I believe that providing high-quality palliative care is critical. Palliative care is so important because it puts patient care at the forefront of this discussion and not the patient's death. Palliative care helps improve the quality of life, reduces or relieves physical and psychological symptoms and supports the families and loved ones of those struggling with the condition. It could be provided in a variety of settings, including hospitals, at home, long-term care facilities and hospices.
The focus of palliative care is on respecting dignity and having compassion for human life. That in my view is the right approach. I do not think any of us in the chamber should ever underestimate the importance of this issue and its complexity. We all understand the delicate and sensitive nature of it. We all have views and we all know the views of our constituents. They sent us here to represent them, and that is what we are doing.
My hope is that we will all uphold the original objective of this legislation, and that is to affirm the inherent equal value of every person's life to avoid encouraging negative perceptions of the quality of life of persons who are elderly, ill or disabled. This bill does not do that, and for that reason I will be voting against it.
