Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Yorkton—Melville.
I am thankful for this opportunity to speak to the motion before us today. The motion declares that it is in the public interest to protect the freedom of conscience of health care professionals when it comes to medical assistance in dying; and that everybody has freedom of conscience and religion under section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; and that a regime that would require health care professionals to make use of effective referral of patients could infringe on the freedom of conscience; and that the government should support legislation to protect the freedom of conscience of health care professionals
It is the federal government's duty to provide legislation that would protect conscience rights of medical practitioners. With respect to the rights of Canadians, it is also the government's duty to protect and preserve our health care system.
Fundamental freedom of conscience is listed alongside other fundamental freedoms we also take for granted here in Canada, such as the freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of belief, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom of association. Fundamental freedoms are not negotiable. They cannot be tossed aside if they are deemed by some to be inconvenient. Canada is not a dictatorship or a tyranny.
I know from comments made in the House and at committee that all members here are concerned about conscience rights. When Parliament has been faced with balancing conscience rights in the past, it has always strongly supported conscience rights. For example, in the Civil Marriage Act, it clearly states “no person or organization shall be deprived of any benefit, or be subject to any obligation or sanction” when exercising their fundamental charter rights of freedom of conscience.
We can establish a framework that supports patient rights for end of life and supports conscientious objection. The problem is that Bill C-14 would not legally protect conscience rights. If Bill C-14 comes into force, it would immediately put the charter conscience rights of health care professionals at risk and ultimately undermine our health care system.
The government will argue that Bill C-14 was amended at justice committee this past week to prevent health care professionals from being compelled to participate in medical assistance in dying. The amendment made at committee states, “For greater certainty, nothing in this section compels an individual to provide or assist in providing medical assistance in dying”.
Let me be clear. The amendment made at the standing committee to Bill C-14 offers no legal protection to health care providers who feel that any involvement in medical assistance in dying goes against their conscience and their profession.
Just because Bill C-14 presently states that nothing in this specific section of the Criminal Code can compel health care professionals, it does not mean that any other entity still cannot compel or coerce a health care provider against his or her conscience rights. For example, an employer could insist upon it or a provincial health care regulatory body could as well.
Health care professionals have been clear that protecting their conscience rights means that health care professionals should never be required to refer patients, provide medical assistance in dying, or be discriminated against for their beliefs or conscience on medical assistance in dying.
During the Supreme Court of Canada hearings on the Carter case, the Canadian Medical Association expressed that “...any legislative scheme must legally protect both those physicians who choose to provide this new intervention to their patients, along with those who do not”. Bill C-14 does not offer legal protection.
At committee, Conservatives put forward strong amendments to legally protect health care professionals' conscience rights and they were rejected by the government.
If Bill C-14 passes without legal protections for health care providers' conscience rights, Canada would be the first jurisdiction in the world that legalized assisted suicide without a robust conscience clause for health care providers.
It is also important to recognize that without federal government direction on conscience rights, Canadians and health care professionals would be faced with a patchwork approach, which is not what the Supreme Court of Canada intended. For example, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is insisting on an effective referral system. This poses an immediate problem for those doctors who are conscientious objectors and are forced to choose between a career and conscience when this legislation comes into effect.
On Wednesday the Senate heard testimony from the Coalition for HealthCARE and Conscience, an organization and coalition that represents 5,000 physicians, 110 health care facilities, and 60,000 staff in the health care profession.
They expressed grave concern that Bill C-14 offers no legal protection for conscience rights of health care professionals. They were concerned that health care professionals might re-evaluate their career choice.
They stated:
Through our discussions with the provinces, we know that it is unclear whether, in fact, they will decide to legislate. In this legal vacuum, hospitals, colleges, provinces, health authorities, nursing homes and hospitals can create policies that will encroach on the constitutional rights of caregivers. This will create chaos. For example, while one medical college, the CPSO, is requiring referral, at least seven others have already indicated they will not.
It is clear that a patchwork approach to issues like referrals and medical assistance in dying will take place. It is within this legal vacuum that health care professionals will face discrimination, because Bill C-14 would not legally protect conscience rights. This type of situation would not only harm a society but would also harm a health care system. Health care professionals expressed that they would have to make the difficult decision to leave their profession if we fail to protect freedom of conscience rights.
Dr. Sephora Tang, who is an Ottawa psychiatrist, shared with the Senate committee on Wednesday her concerns about the lack of protection in Bill C-14.
She stated:
It is very difficult for me, as a professional physician and psychiatrist, to say that some of my patients I should be referring to medical aid in dying.... With the whole issue of conscientious objection, it's almost as though my professional judgment has been stripped.... If we do not have legislation that allows me to practice according to my conscience, this time that I have with my patients to work with them will be truncated, and I feel to their detriment and to the detriment of the families and friends of the patient that are left behind, and also to the individual health care professionals and the team members who work with this patient as well.
Dr. Matthew Meeuwissen, an emergency doctor from Stony Plain, Alberta, also expressed this opposition to medical assistance in dying. He said that the act of helping a patient to find a physician to assist in suicide is nothing short of complacency in killing vulnerable people. He said, “As a physician, I am not aware of any medical condition where killing my patient is an effective treatment”.
There are many more health care professionals who hold similar views and face ultimately between choosing for their conscience or their work. These health care professionals journey with those who are suffering and sick every day. They help patients at the end of life but object to ending their life.
The Hippocratic Oath rightly recognizes this element of our nature. Health care professionals take an oath stating they will remember that there is art to medicine as well as some science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.
Freedom of conscience for all health care professionals must be protected. Hope, a constituent in my riding, sent me an email recently stating:
Conscience Rights are a protected freedom under the Charter of Rights and should NOT be violated. Saying this it should be clearly stated that healthcare providers can refuse to perform or refer for physician assisted suicide on the grounds of conscientious objections. Do not trammel the rights of one group for the perceived rights of another.
A majority of Canadians agree with Hope. A recent Nanos Research poll showed that 75% of Canadians agreed that doctors should be able to opt out of offering assisted dying, compared with 21% who disagreed. Even the Canadian Medical Association noted that approximately 70% of Canadian physicians do not want to participate, directly or indirectly, in assisted suicide.
Freedom of conscience rights must be given a priority, as in the charter. The government should strengthen Bill C-14 by adding codified protections for conscience rights as anticipated in Carter, similar to the recognition of conscience and religious rights in the Civil Marriage Act. This would be accomplished by adding an offence to intimidate or coerce health care professionals to take part, directly or indirectly, in assisted suicide or euthanasia.
The government should also make it an offence to dismiss from employment or to refuse to employ health care professionals if they refuse to take part, directly or indirectly, in assisted suicide or euthanasia.
If freedom of conscience rights for health care professionals is not protected, the rights of a few will trample the charter rights of those who have dedicated their lives to helping us heal and live healthy lives.
I hope the government will support this motion and ultimately act to legislate real protection for health care professionals on medical assistance in dying.