That idea of oversight is quite reassuring for the population. The population likes to know that there might be a body or different bodies collecting data and analyzing how physician-assisted dying is provided all across Canada, and maybe doing some study on the impact it has on human rights in general.
Many points of view were expressed concerning the mission of an oversight body that would be created. Some thought that it should only collect data, that the data should stay confidential, and that there should be a public reporting, or perhaps a reporting to Parliament. Other people went beyond that and said that the oversight body should really do a social analysis of the impact of physician-assisted death, and maybe have money in order to give subsidies to scholars to do research on different questions related to that issue.
It's not clear, either, that there should only be one federal body. There could be a federal body and different provincial bodies, or there could be only provincial bodies working co-operatively, working together, as in fact an interprovincial organization, which is possible. When we hear the word “oversight”, we should not necessarily think federal only. It may be federal, provincial, and territorial. In any case, it certainly reassures people.
Let me say this. In my view, there are four cardinal points, four fundamental points, that are reassuring people or that are important in that issue. The first one, of course, is access to physician-assisted death, as least as the Supreme Court of Canada has defined it in the Carter decision. The second is efficient oversight. The third is better palliative care. The fourth is robust safeguards for vulnerable people.
If you talk to anyone and you tell them that these are the four components of what the federal or provincial intervention with regard to physician-assisted death will be, people will be reassured, because there will not only be access to physician-assisted dying but also a commitment for oversight, a commitment for better palliative care, and a commitment for the protection of the vulnerable.