Thank you, Mr. Chair.
As I suggested in the opening to my last amendment, in a series of amendments I'm attempting to restore proposed subsection 241.2(2) to a status of definition that's compliant with the Carter decision.
I note that some of the witnesses before the committee asked that this subclause be removed in its entirety. In this one, I haven't gone as far with my amendment as the Dying With Dignity witnesses asked you to do, but what I have done is remove the word “advanced,” so it would now read, “they are in a state of irreversible decline in capability” as opposed to “in an advanced state of irreversible decline”.
The position of Dying With Dignity was that this would force years of severe, unwanted suffering upon people who have a grievous and irremediable medical condition, but who have not yet reached the end stages of their medical condition.
The use of the word “advanced”, again speaking of terms that are imprecise, speaking of areas where we don't have clear medical guidance, in this context is unhelpful in meeting the guidance that we have from the Supreme Court of Canada, and imposes on people who otherwise meet the tests of BillC-14 unnecessary, additional suffering and grievous harm, denying them of their rights for longer than legislators should do.