Okay. Maybe I'll start with the very important point you raise concerning dignity. Everyone may have different opinions or different views on that.
I would say dignity comes from within the person himself or herself. I would think even a person without faith would see that in a purely human way, the dignity of the human person. It doesn't come from the circumstances around them. From the point of view of faith, it comes from the idea that we see a person as a child of God, as someone who has inherent dignity. Every person must be treated with reverence.
Did Jean Paul II have dignity? When he was a 58-year-old pope skiing down mountains, he had dignity. Did he have dignity when he was in the last years of his life when his body was breaking down? I would say he had dignity then and he had dignity at the other times as well. Dignity comes from within the human person. I would say dignity comes with a reverence we give to a person, and that's why we should surround them and care for them. Think of Mother Teresa. The people she served, did they have dignity? Yes, they did, and she tried to help them in their suffering and care. Dignity comes from within. Dignity, I would say, comes from God. What we are doing, and have been doing for hundreds, a couple of thousand, years is surrounding a person, reverencing their dignity. That's why we don't believe it's right to kill them. We think that's just not right. That is not the way to dignity.
On palliative care, I think not only do we need to talk about it but that it needs to be dealt with at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels, and certainly at the private level. I can tell you that in my own diocese—I can't speak for other religious groups—we have various initiatives. Just this afternoon I got a proposal for another palliative care place that we're thinking of putting in the centre of Toronto. We do this. We're on the ground. We're doing it. We're caring. But I do think it would help a lot if this was funded. I mean, what are we spending on in our country? I would think it should be on caring for those who have dignity inherent within them from the first moment of their life to the end of this life at the end of their earthly journey. I think we need to not just talk about it, but to do something about it.