Some of my current concerns are about the way in which, in a sense, the shift from the Carter decision to Bill C-14 seems to have been motivated by a real concern about vulnerable populations. We've heard from Mr. Arvay this morning about this having led to certain exclusions of persons who have been labelled and classified as vulnerable.
I think that's a dangerous shift, actually, because as long as we label somebody as vulnerable, we are eroding their capacity. We are presuming that they are not capable, and in so doing we are treating them as unequal to the rest of us in society. I think that's a dangerous direction to be moving in.
At the same time, we are concerned about vulnerability. I think there are other mechanisms through which we can meet that concern. The current safeguards that are articulated here are definitely on the right track, but I start to become nervous when we move in the direction of thinking of prior review, of judicial oversight, which I think is motivated by a concern sometimes framed as enhanced transparency but more often as a way to address issues of vulnerability, while we have mechanisms within health care practice that would better serve that goal, and indeed, from a patient perspective, ensure a much more seamless experience for them at the end of life.
With regard to the judicial review process, we have had some experience over the last three months of cases going through the judicial review process to receive access to assisted death. One of the individuals who went through this process pleaded that this not be the mechanism by which they access assisted death because it is a burden, at the end of one's life, to be going through that particular process.