Shé:kon.
My name is Dr. Rod McCormick. I'm Mohawk, or Kanien’kehá:ka. I'm also a professor and research chair in indigenous health at Thompson Rivers University. I live on my partner's first nations reserve of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, in Kamloops, B.C., and I'm the director of the indigenous research centre called All My Relations.
I'd like to thank the committee for the invitation to provide input once again on Bill C-7. Previously, I testified on the implications of Bill C-7 for those suffering from mental illness. I'd like to extend those views as they pertain to MAID for mature minors.
The expansion of MAID is occurring at too rapid a pace, in my opinion. I've learned through painful experience that when you're on a slippery incline or hill, or in this case a slippery slope, the best way to avoid falling is to take small, careful steps.
As I'm an indigenous health professor and research chair who has also had approximately 35 years of experience as a mental health service provider for indigenous people, my testimony will be from an indigenous mental health perspective.
I should start by saying that I have grave concerns over the extension of MAID for minors, and I use the term “grave” in a purposeful manner. As my partner and kids are members of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc and I live in their community, I experienced first-hand the impact of the announcement of the 215 children's graves on the grounds of the residential school. I can clearly see the residential school from the windows of my house and can make out a glimpse of the fields in which the 215 children were buried in shallow graves.
This attempt to conceal the bodies is, in a way, symbolic of the numerous historical attempts by Canada to deal with what Duncan Campbell Scott referred to as the need to “get rid of the Indian problem”. Those attempts, as many of you probably know, consisted of forced starvation, forced sterilization, forced relocation to reserves with unsafe, unhealthy and crowded housing, the introduction of liquor, smallpox blankets, forced residential schooling, experimentation with malnutrition in residential schools, ignoring the contagion of tuberculosis in the residential schools, the ongoing child welfare seizure of children and the excessive imprisonment of indigenous peoples in the penal system. The list goes on.
What I'm saying is that because of the multiple ways Canada has utilized to eliminate indigenous peoples and culture, we are overrepresented at every stage of the health care system, including that of premature deaths. This may all seem overly dramatic to you, but do we really need yet another path to death?
My cynicism is partially based on decades of working with indigenous youth to help them attain and maintain a good and healthy life. As I mentioned in my previous testimony, I've worked with many indigenous youth in emotional pain who were able to recover from being suicidal. The common reflection they had upon recovery was one of relief that they did not choose a permanent solution to what proved to be a temporary problem. Getting the proper and timely help is key to survival.
There are many barriers to obtaining that help. Among them are a lack of accurate diagnoses and corresponding treatments, a racist health care system, a mistrust of a health care system that doesn't always have our best interests in mind, jurisdictional ambiguity and the abdication of responsibility by various governments. The big factor is the remoteness of our communities.
Living on reserve and/or in a remote location often means that health services are provided by nurses or nurse practitioners, who are often overworked and ill prepared to provide the range of services that are required. This is especially the case in the near total absence of palliative care services for indigenous children and youth.
In preparing this statement, I scoured the Internet looking for evidence showing that mental illness can be predicted to be irremediable, and I couldn't find any. Shouldn't public policy as important as this be informed by evidence?
Some argue that we'll be discriminating against minors and those with mental anguish if they are not allowed access to MAID. However, without evidence, are we not also discriminating against those very groups in another way?
Currently, I believe the law provides the option for the minor to self-assess as to whether various methods of treatment are appropriate for them, and to refuse such treatment they deem inappropriate. From my clinical experience, most youth are not aware of the diverse treatment options they have, nor do they have an accurate understanding of them. Granted, for indigenous youth, those options might not even be available to them in their communities, but shouldn't equal health care in Canada be available to all Canadians?
Can teenagers whose brains are still developing make such important decisions?
Although I obviously cannot speak for all indigenous peoples, the pattern I am seeing with the introduction and expansion of this legislation is that of an abdication of responsibility by the Government of Canada and, by extension, by the citizens of Canada.
Instead of making every effort to provide the range of mental health services needed by indigenous youth to overcome their pain, we are instead imposing upon them the burden of deciding whether they should choose a government-sanctioned, permanent solution to what could easily be a temporary problem. That is where mainstream Canadian cultural values fail us all. The emphasis on individual rights and individual freedom is not balanced with the need for collective responsibility.
In closing, I would like to read you a statement by the existential psychiatrist, Dr. Viktor Frankl.
Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness.
I urge this committee to advocate for the Government of Canada and the provinces to accept their collective responsibility to not expand MAID to minors but to instead improve the mental health services available to indigenous youth and all the youth of Canada.
Nia:wen. Thank you.