Thank you and good morning, everyone.
I'm here today with my cabinet colleagues to share the perspectives of persons with disabilities on this important and personal issue. Medical assistance in dying is a human rights issue.
The proposed legislation recognizes the equality rights of personal autonomy as well as the inherent and equal value of every life, something that disability advocates have fought tirelessly for for decades. In doing so, it remains true to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the principles of the Accessible Canada Act that everyone must be treated with dignity, that everyone must have meaningful options and be free to make their own choices, and that everyone must have the same opportunity to make for themselves the life that they are able and wish to have, regardless of their disabilities.
As we looked to broaden access to MAID as directed by the court, we were very aware of the need for Canadians to know their options, to ensure that their consent was informed, and to have a real choice. Equality rights, personal autonomy, human rights, meaningful options and the opportunity to make a good life for oneself are top of mind. If our systems, processes, programs and services don't offer these options and if our citizens don't see that these options are available to them, then their equality rights are not being fully realized.
This proposed legislation recognizes the significant role that social, mental health, disability and community support services play in the full realization of equality rights. Accessing MAID should not be easier than accessing disability supports. The new legislation makes it the responsibility of the medical practitioner to ensure that individuals are made aware of the supports that are available to them and that those have been seriously considered. The harsh reality is that many Canadians with disabilities are not living with dignity, in the sense that they are not properly supported, they face barriers to inclusion and they regularly experience discrimination.
The pandemic has shown us that many of our systems are not able to truly support and include all Canadians. Canadians with disabilities as well as many other marginalized communities rightly demand that governments address these inequities.
Moving forward, we'll continue to work with the disability community. We'll not shy away from the long-overdue conversations that we need to have in our country with respect to disability inclusion and the system of barriers to inclusion that continue to persist. We'll also take action, as laid out in the throne speech, by bringing forward the first ever national disability inclusion plan, one that provides systemic changes to how the federal government interacts with and supports its citizens with disabilities.
We have before us legislation that seeks to balance making medical assistance in dying available without undue obstacles to those who choose it with safeguards to ensure that this decision is truly informed and voluntary. A truly progressive medical assistance in dying law is one that recognizes without compromise the equality rights of everyone.
Thank you.