Yes. Thank you very much.
What I will say comes from the 15,000 people who answered the questionnaire and also from the consultations we had all over Canada. As you know, we met many experts, groups, associations, and so on.
There is a concern, expressed by many people, about the application of physician-assisted dying to people who suffer from psychological illnesses. It is clear that support is stronger among the population for the application of physician-aided dying in cases of physical illness or physical disability, for example, than in cases of psychological illness.
At the same time, I should say that, a priori, the Carter decision does apply to psychological situations, maybe as well as to physical situations. I say “as well as to physical situations”, but this still has to be determined through an interpretation of the decision. I would say that, prima facie, the Carter decision applies to both psychological and physical illnesses. Respondents were more likely to agree that physician-assisted death should be allowed when a person faces a significant, life-threatening, or progressive condition. If someone suffers a significant, life-threatening, or progressive condition, then the support generally of the population is stronger than in the case where a person is not in such a situation and has many years to live.
I'd say that this is the challenge that this Parliament should face. This is the challenge that flows from the Carter decision. The Carter decision does apply to assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia, it does apply to psychological and physical illnesses, it does apply to situations where someone is not confronted by the end of his life, so that decision is quite large. That decision is quite wide in its scope. The challenge for this Parliament and the provincial legislatures is not to see if there should be limits to that decision. Again, if there are limits to that decision, those limits should not go against the spirit of the decision—