Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to echo the points Mr. Cooper just made.
Mr. Garrison mentioned or, I guess, presupposed how some future court may look at this. It's a reminder of how we came to be in this situation in the first place, when the court decision, the Truchon decision, significantly changed what was a brand new piece of legislation, which was Bill C-14. It was less than five years old and hadn't even had its first review. That decision said that someone no longer needed to be in a situation in which death was reasonably foreseeable. The government, rather than appealing the decision, instead immediately dropped any efforts to defend its own legislation and then introduced Bill C-7.
I don't think the consultation with the disability community, with persons living with disabilities, has been robust enough. I say that based on the four days of testimony we had. On one particular day, a number of the groups represented spoke for Canadians who are living with disabilities. As Mr. Cooper just put it, we have an obligation and we have international obligations to do the right thing. The message we heard back is that people are going to be put in a position based only on their being a person living with disability, which puts them at a disadvantage compared to everyone else.
I think quite the opposite. Unfortunately, this bill singles this group out. We've been hearing that loud and clear, if members of the committee have been getting the same correspondence I've been getting, from groups from coast to coast, local groups as well as national groups, representing Canadians living with disabilities, who find some of these amendments to be an affront to them as Canadians who are seeking to be wholly involved with all that our country has to offer.
That's why I think we have an opportunity here. I'm just asking members of the committee to really think openly about what we heard and about what Mr. Manly has very thoughtfully put forward. I'm reading every word of his amendment, and to me it speaks exactly to “deprivation, social disadvantage, lack of support or perceived discrimination”. What this amendment is saying is that the decision to receive assisted dying cannot be the result of one of those conditions. How can we as committee members in good conscience not support an amendment that responds so directly to the testimony we heard and that provides an element of safety? We're going to get to other amendments later that were.... While Bill C-14 had protections in place for Canadians under our assisted dying regime, some of those protections are being pulled out with Bill C-7.
I think this amendment is a thoughtful way of saying, “We're listening and we're acting cautiously. We're proceeding with caution and we, above all, are going to take every step necessary to protect the rights and the ability of persons living with disability to be fully engaged in our society.” I know committee members heard what I heard: that this bill is in danger of really hurting a lot of Canadians living with disability and how they see themselves as participants in Canadian society.
I think this amendment, if we could all support it, Madam Chair, would go a long way to saying that we heard and that we were listening when they took the time to appear before us as witnesses.