Thank you very much, Mr. Co-Chair.
It's quite obvious, when you look at the status of health care in Canada, that many groups simply do not have access to equitable care. There are very real concerns for many communities out there about the conversations we're having around this table and the direction that this law could potentially be taking.
Professor Bernier, I'll start with you.
On the subject of informed consent in relation to the concept of advanced requests, we noticed that a lot of people have a fear of being a burden on their families. Given the state of long-term care in Canada, they also have a fear of losing their agency. They look at people who may live with disabilities. They fear being put into that kind of life.
In this conversation, we're dealing with very weighty subject matter. I mean, how on earth are we going to address this committee's mandate, if we're not...? It seems like we're putting the cart before the horse if we're not dealing with those larger societal issues, these bigger and broader topics of equitable care being unavailable to so many under-represented groups.
If we're not dealing with that, how are we proceeding on this? Do you have any thoughts on that?