Just because we've heard from 10,000 psychiatrists doesn't mean we shouldn't hear from the Canadian Psychiatric Association. I honestly find this completely unacceptable.
I would now like to ask Dr. van Veen a question.
I strongly believe in a person's right to decide for themselves the level of suffering that they want to endure. We know that people are treated and medicated but forced to suffer for their entire lives because psychiatry and community support won't take away their suffering. If, this evening, we were to decide to take away the ability of people with a mental illness to request medical assistance in dying, we would be engaging in discrimination. We would be excluding some people who have rights. In the absence of a clinical consensus, we would be determining that they don't have the same rights as people who have a chronic incurable disease or as people who are suffering from a disease such as Alzheimer's and who make their advance requests in Quebec. I find that somewhat unacceptable, Mr. Chair.
On that note, I appreciated Dr. van Veen's testimony. I gather that he thinks that taking away this right wouldn't be the best idea because some people with a mental illness have the right to decide for themselves and the capacity to do so. Dr. van Veen, I understand that currently some people are forced to suffer for their entire lives and to receive psychiatric palliative care at the end of their lives. It seems that, in 2026, we have a duty to give these people an option. They have the right to decide that they have suffered enough and to make the decision that concerns them.
Do you agree, Dr. van Veen, with my hypothesis that we'll never be able to take away some people's suffering?