Bill C-285

Medical Freedom Act

An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Canada Labour Code and the Employment Insurance Act

This enactment amends the Canadian Human Rights Act to add conscientious belief and medical history to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination. It also amends that Act to provide that discrimination against an individual who, due to their medical history, is denied access to transportation services, is not to be considered reasonable for the purposes of the Act unless it is established that accommodating the individual would impose undue hardship on the service provider, considering health, safety and cost.
In addition, the enactment amends the Canada Labour Code to prohibit an employer from taking reprisals against an employee because of certain decisions the employee has made in relation to their health. Furthermore, it requires an employer to accommodate such an employee if certain conditions are met.
Finally, the enactment amends the Employment Insurance Act to provide that a claimant is not to be disqualified or disentitled from receiving benefits if they lost their employment for the solereason that they made certain decisions in relation to their health.

Medical Freedom Act

[Dean Allison, Conservative, Niagara West, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-285, An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Canada Labour Code and the Employment Insurance Act.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to introduce my bill, a bill that I believe is crucial at this point in time. I would like to thank my esteemed colleague, the member for Peace River—Westlock, for seconding the bill.

As a Canadian, I am a firm believer in freedom. I believe in the freedom of Canadians to make their own medical choices. That is why, today, I am introducing the medical freedom bill. The bill would amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to add conscientious belief and medical history to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination. The bill seeks to protect travellers from being banned because of their medical status. It would protect employees from reprisals by their employers because of a medical choice. The bill would also safeguard employees' EI benefits in the event that they are let go because of a medical decision they made for themselves.

Finally, I truly believe this bill to be the start of more legislation and action that would seek to fortify our freedoms and enshrine them to never again be cast aside as they have been in the past year.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)