Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all of our witnesses for helping to guide us through this part of the study of Bill C-62.
I've been a member of the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying from the beginning, and I'm very familiar with the subject matter that's before us.
Ms. Long, I'd like to start with you, if I could.
Thank you for your opening statement and for representing Dying with Dignity. Of course, ever since our special joint committee tabled the report in the House of Commons and in the Senate with our single recommendation, we are also in receipt of a letter that was signed by the health ministers from seven out of 10 provinces and all three territories.
If you look at that letter, you can quote from the middle of it, where it says, “The current March 17, 2024, deadline does not provide sufficient time to fully and appropriately prepare all provinces and territories across Canada”. Further down, they ask the Minister of Health and the Minister of Justice to “indefinitely pause the implementation of the expanded MAID eligibility criteria to enable further collaboration between provinces, territories and the federal government”.
Ms. Long, when I look at the signatories, I see that they include ministers of health and ministers responsible for mental health and addictions. You can see that they are widely across the political spectrum. They include the NDP government in British Columbia and several Conservative governments in other provinces.
I want to know from you how Dying with Dignity responds to this letter, given that these are all cabinet ministers, they have executive-level functions within their respective governments and they are responsible for the systems of health that are actually going to be overseeing this process. If they are publicly asserting that their systems are not ready, how do you respond to that with your opening statement where you said that we are ready?