Good evening.
Welcome to this meeting of the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying. I would like to welcome members of the committee and witnesses, as well as those watching this meeting on the web.
My name is René Arseneault, and I am the House of Commons joint chair of this committee. I am joined by the Honourable Yonah Martin, the Senate's joint chair of this committee.
Today, we begin our examination of the degree of preparedness attained for a safe and adequate application of medical assistance in dying, where mental disorder is the sole underlying medical condition, in accordance with recommendation 13 of the committee's second report.
I would like to remind members and witnesses to keep their microphones muted, unless recognized by name by the joint chairs. I remind you that all comments should be addressed through the joint chairs. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly, and as near as you can to the microphone for the interpreters. Interpretation in this video conference will work like in an in-person committee meeting. You have the choice at the bottom of your screen of floor, English or French.
With that, I would like to extend a virtual welcome to our witnesses for our first panel.
From the Canadian Psychiatric Association, we have Dr. Alison Freeland, chair of the board of directors and co-chair of the MAID working group.
We also have the Canadian Bar Association, represented by Ms. Shelley Birenbaum, chair of the end of life working group.
Thank you for joining us, Ms. Freeland and Ms. Birenbaum.
We'll begin with opening remarks by Dr. Freeland, followed by Ms. Birenbaum.
I will be very strict with the time for everyone here tonight because we'd like to have at least two rounds. If you ask a question with 10 seconds remaining in your time, there will be no answer. I'd ask everyone to try to be as tight as you can on your time. Then we can have two rounds of questions for everyone.
Dr. Freeland, the floor is yours for five minutes.