Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I thank all three witnesses for being here.
Professor Vrakas, thank you very much for your honesty, sincerity and candour. It’s very moving.
I will ask a question, which I invite all three witnesses to answer in the five or six minutes that I have. I have a question that is troubling me. I came here with no preconceptions. I’m listening and trying to learn.
Ms. Vrakas, you said in your testimony that you did not want to die, but to stop suffering. I am under the impression that this is the case for many people who have physical illnesses and are suffering. They don’t necessarily want to die, they want to stop suffering. How can I, as a legislator, differentiate between the right of someone who is suffering physically and the right of someone who is suffering from a mental health problem? I want them both to have equal rights.
Mr. Maher, you said there was no discriminating between the two, but why would I give a right to someone who has irremediable physical suffering and not give the same right to someone who has mental suffering? I know that the issue of irremediability is very sensitive.
Ms. Vrakas, you could go first, and Mr. Maher and Ms. Wiebe can respond afterwards.