I think there are two issues there, Mr. MacGregor. One is what deference is accorded by the Supreme Court, and then the other is your criticism of our response circa 2019-21 vis-à-vis mental illness.
Do I regret that decision? Not at all, because I think what the Senate prompted was an active discussion about mental illness and the evolution of this law and its potential expansion. The development of the MAID curriculum, the model standard and things like the oversight mechanisms that are under development are all by-products of that function. I think that's proper vis-à-vis showing equivalence between mental suffering and physical suffering and not perpetuating negative stereotypes such as that mental suffering does not deserve the same level of treatment or to be addressed, and also not perpetuating pejorative assumptions about the decision-making capacity of people who are mentally ill.
On the deference piece, Mr. MacGregor, what I would say to you is that the court has said that there's a certain amount of deference owed as part of the dialogue between the courts and Parliament. There's extra deference shown in the matter of complex social policy, and then they highlighted in the Carter decision that, when it comes to MAID, that deference is directly applicable.
What they're saying there is that they're going to allow a margin of manoeuvrability for Parliament to try to get this right when we're balancing delicate interests. I'll say to you what I said at the outset. When you have issues around the unpredictability of the course of one's mental illness and when you have the possibility of suicidal ideation being a symptom of someone's condition, while I firmly believe you can distinguish between suicidal ideation and a well considered, well-thought-out request for MAID, you have to make sure that difference and that distinction can be made. You also have to ensure that all of the health care practitioners, MAID providers and assessors have the ability to do so.
When only 40 people have had that education, I think that's not enough.