Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Nichols as well as Ms. Romaire for sharing their stories, which were quite moving and very troubling.
In their opening statements, they told us about the struggles they have faced. A few short minutes isn't enough time to adequately understand and unpack the deficiencies in the system. The bottom line, as I understand it, is that something happened that shouldn't have.
In 2019, Mr. and Mrs. Nichols, MAID was not available to people with mental disorders under the law, so I don't have any questions for you.
Ms. Romaire, you pointed to a problem that has also come up in Quebec.
In terms of end-of-life care, Quebec was one of the first places to authorize medical assistance in dying for people with terminal illnesses. The province even set up a commission to oversee the administration of MAID, the Commission on End-of-Life Care. The commission's job is to oversee MAID responses and to hold all practitioners involved in MAID cases to account.
The situation you described, what happened to you, has to do with MAID requesters not having access to palliative care no matter what their stage of illness, whether terminal or pre-terminal.
That's what you experienced, and that's what you shared with us today.
You could qualify for MAID, but you said that it would be tremendously helpful if you could also receive palliative care. Some witnesses told the committee that palliative care was available, not just for a terminal illness, but also prior to that stage.
Ms. Romaire, I'd like to hear your views on this. I want to be sure I understood everything you said. You were told that you weren't eligible for palliative care because you had requested MAID.
Do I have that right?