Thank you, Madam Chair. That's kind of you.
I'm sorry, but I do not agree with my colleagues' comments, relevant though they are, because they are based on assumptions like the following. Paragraph (g) is located at the end of the safeguards in subclause 241.2(3.1), which states that: Before ... provides medical assistance in dying to a person whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable...
When a person makes a request of that nature, we cannot assume that they are doing so on an uninformed basis. There is a whole process for requests made by people with degenerative illnesses or conditions, impairments that lead to intolerable disability and suffering, or grievous or irremediable conditions or states.
Bill C-7 says that, when such a request is made, a certain number of things must be done. I do not think we should assume that, just because somebody has a physical or cognitive disability, they do not have as much moral autonomy than any of us here. That assumption is forgotten at the outset. Another forgotten assumption is the following: when legislation or the Criminal Code includes an exculpatory measure, it cannot be misleading or unevenly accessible across the country.
After all the other safeguards in Bill C-7, paragraph (g) states the following: ensure that the person has been informed of the means available to relieve their suffering...
I would like to emphasize that an assessment of the irreversibility of a person's state has been conducted beforehand. We talked about this, because the core issue is the irreversibility of a person's state of suffering. That is what medical professionals must assess. The full wording of paragraph 241.2(3.1)(g) is as follows: ensure that the person has been informed of the means available to relieve their suffering, including, where appropriate, counselling services, mental health and disability support services, community services and palliative care and has been offered consultations with relevant professionals who provide those services or that care;
After that entire list of the services available, Mr. Manly would like us to say “and has had consultations with the relevant professionals who provide those services or that care”. If that is not a requirement, I wonder what is. Does the requirement for consultation apply to only one of these services? Does it apply to all of them? Mr. Manly mentioned palliative care, but that is not the only service listed here.
In this context, I would hope that, by the end of the process, people have made a completely free and informed decision, with no one pressuring them into doing so. However, they are being told that a certain number of parameters still have to be checked and that professionals can be consulted. When someone is suicidal due to an accident, the suicidal state is reversible. We cannot be comparing apples to oranges. When someone requests medical assistance in dying, their state, condition, problem, disability... Disabilities are always social. I always have a difficult time referring to people with disabilities as “disabled”. It's we, as a society, who disable them.
They have the same moral autonomy as you and I, yet the Criminal Code would require them to undergo additional consultations, as if their decision was not informed by a consultation process already. State paternalism can only go so far, and this amendment runs contrary to the principles set out in the Carter decision and in the one rendered by Justice Baudouin. That is why I am opposed to it.