Thank you to the witnesses for being here. It's very interesting.
I researched the Unitarian Council and I didn't see any hospitals that had been established by the Unitarian Church, but I did find many that are faith-based Catholic hospitals.
I appreciate the question from MP Shanahan and her sharing that we should not impose our beliefs on other Canadians. However, there's this balance of faith and doing what's right in our own hearts too. Also there's been comment around this table that a doctor's conscience should be protected, and maybe not to do it themselves, but to refer.
I've heard from most physicians.... Actually, I think it was 70% of physicians who do not want to have to be required to refer, so 30%, which is 24,000 physicians, are willing to practise this. Focusing on the 70%, I think that most Canadians believe they should not be forced to perform assisted suicide or euthanasia and they should not be forced to refer.
There's been a question, I think from one of our senators, that institutions, bricks, do not have a conscience. If you could comment, do institutions have a value system that would say yes or no? Should they have the right to say no as an institution?
Is there a possibility of having a harmonizing system? You could have institutions, hospitals, like a Catholic hospital, that are not bound because they're providing health care. They could be known as a hospital that provides health and natural death, and there could be some hospitals that provide that other choice. Could you comment on that?