I'm not able to share any concerns necessarily with the adequacy of those laws. All I can do for the benefit of this committee is to relay that the jurisdictions that have legalized physician-assisted dying have found that it was necessary to have fairly specific procedures tailored to this context in light of the seriousness of the decision being undertaken and in light of the fact that in all of those other jurisdictions it is conduct that would otherwise be criminal.
In some cases there are very specific measures. For instance, the requirement that there be a written request that is signed by the patient and witnessed by two or three independent witnesses could potentially serve as evidence that a physician complied with the law. It might be a more direct and concrete piece of documentary information that can give everyone greater confidence that the individual was acting in a voluntary way and was not being coerced by family members and that the time was taken by all the parties to treat this issue with the seriousness that it implicates, given the fact that when the procedure is provided, a physician is contributing to causing the death of a person.
Unfortunately, I wouldn't really feel comfortable commenting on the adequacy or inadequacy of existing provincial regulations. I would only bring to the committee's attention that it might want to consider whether more is needed in the circumstances of physician-assisted dying.