Thank you for those questions. I will try to be brief.
For example, for first nations individuals who are accessing a medically assisted death, it is up to them to decide how they would like that to proceed. For some people, that may involve including part of their culture and ceremony into that process. As I spoke to in my opening remarks, I have heard some case studies of MAID being delivered to first nations individuals in British Columbia where the person did want aspects of ceremony included. In fact, the community was aware, since many of our communities in British Columbia are quite small, that this was happening on that particular day. It is one example I gave that gives some idea of what a medically assisted death could look like for a first nations person.
Additionally, to the second question, I have spent most of my career working with indigenous patients, as I mentioned, in a variety of settings. The first thing I try to do when I meet patients is hear where they're coming from. I think that's part of delivering culturally safe care. Of course, I would hear a concern such as a worry that someone would not be considered to be eligible for accessing a MAID assessment or provision. I would hear out their concerns, because their concerns are valid. They're coming from their point of view. Then I would obviously be able to spend some amount of time trying to provide the correct information or to correct misperceptions: Medical assistance in dying, particularly for those with mental disorders, is not a form of genocide.
There are people who are truly suffering and whose conditions, as Dr. Barbès-Morin mentioned.... Both of us, I think, have similar experiences. In my decades of working in psychiatry, there are very few individuals I can think of, probably fewer than 10, who I would think, based on my knowledge, would qualify for a medically assisted death under the MD-SUMC category.