Thank you, Madam Chair.
First of all, I think this is a very thoughtful amendment by Mr. Manly. We heard the testimony from witnesses, vulnerable witnesses, Canadians living with disabilities. This response to some of the concerns raised by some of our witnesses....
In this discussion, I often hear medical professionals or doctors cited, but often we're talking about MAID assessors or MAID providers, and I think, as a committee, we have a responsibility. I've listened to the MAID assessors and MAID providers, but the broader physician-doctor-health care community....
On the specific issue of this Green amendment, we received a submission as a committee—I know I did—from Physicians Together for Vulnerable Canadians. It was signed by more than 800 physicians. These are physicians—medical doctors—who say they feel compelled to voice their “dismay at how individuals who have little lived experience of the realities involved in the everyday practice of medicine suddenly and fundamentally changed the nature of medicine” by making changes to assisted suicide.
Specifically on this matter, and I want to home in on this, they say:
...the authors of Bill C-7 consider it sufficient to offer patients information about other possible means to alleviate their suffering, [but] there is no requirement that the service be available to the patient.
How many times did we hear that? In the limited testimony we had on the bill, I heard over and over, from persons with disabilities and from others who have concerns with this bill, that it's not a true choice between assisted death and other options if those other options aren't available.
They go on to say:
We live in a country where the wait time to see a psychiatrist in certain areas is 4-8 times longer than the 90-day waiting period proposed in the bill for those whose natural death is not considered “reasonably foreseeable”, and where 70% of citizens nearing the end of life still have no access to basic palliative care services. Yet MAiD has been deemed an essential service under the Canada Health Act and palliative care has not. This bill creates the conditions for cheap and easy death through euthanasia or assisted suicide.
This is not the medicine that we have devoted our lives to practicing. Our intent is to heal and to alleviate suffering....
These physicians sent our committee this information. They are saying that it's not a true choice, if a person has not fully been able to explore what services, including palliative care services, are available to them. They say that 70 per cent of Canadians nearing the end of life still have no access to basic palliative care services.
In Bill C-7 we have a significant expansion of Canada's assisted dying legislation. My goal in this is to listen to the testimony from witnesses and ensure that we as a committee do everything in our power to protect vulnerable Canadians, protect Canadians who are at a low point in their lives and protect Canadians' basic and fundamental rights, and to make sure that, when a decision is made that involves assisted dying, it is made with all the best available information.
If a person dealing with end-of-life issues has not been able to avail themselves of a consultation with a palliative care doctor, then how are they supposed to make that decision? This is the point that these physicians—more than 800 of them—have made to our committee.
It's for those reasons and others that I think this particular amendment is bang on. I think it is a further safeguard. I don't think it's too onerous at all. Remember, these are cases where death is not reasonably foreseeable, so we want to make sure that Canadians have been able to avail themselves of all possible options.
It's for those reasons that I'm happy to support this Green amendment from Mr. Manly.