Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C-14, an act to amend the Criminal Code and to make related amendments to other acts related to medical assistance in dying.
I support the bill at second reading. However, it does need to be amended.
I will start today with a story. Some years ago, my wife Audrey and I adopted a beautiful sable sheltie dog by the name of Princess Diana of Cornwall. She was named at a time when we lived on Cornwall Drive in Port Coquitlam, and the world was abuzz with a royal wedding involving two people named Charles and Diana.
Princess was a great dog. Unfortunately, when she was about 11 years old, she developed cancer. We were already living in our current home city of Cranbrook, located in the Rocky Mountains area of British Columbia. As the cancer progressed, Princess was living with more pain and discomfort. We consulted our local vet regularly. One day he told us that she was terminal and in a lot of pain and he thought the best thing we could do for her was to end her suffering. He asked us to bring her back the next day. We took her home to say our goodbyes, and the next day I brought Princess back to the veterinarian. He asked me if I would like to leave her with him or whether I would like to stay. I said I would stay. I held her in my arms and watched the needle go into her paw. She lay down and died in my arms. As I stood there with tears in my eyes, I thought that if I were ever in intolerable pain from an incurable disease, this is how I would want to leave this world, with a needle in my paw, lying in the arms of someone I love. I personally became a believer in physician-assisted suicide right there 20 years ago.
I am not suggesting that the death of a pet and that of a human are equivalent, though they certainly can feel much the same, as many who have loved a beloved pet will know. We need to take even more care that we have it right when we are talking about euthanasia through a human lens.
As members know, in February 2015, a unanimous Supreme Court ruling established the charter-protected right of competent adult Canadians who are experiencing enduring and intolerable suffering as a result of a grievous and irremediable medical condition, including a disease, disability, or illness, to access medical assistance in dying. We in the NDP are committed to implementing the Supreme Court order decision with balance and sensitivity, respecting the autonomy of patients, the rights of health care practitioners and vulnerable individuals, and the fundamentally personal nature of this issue to every Canadian; in other words, we need to get this legislation right.
Last week, when I was back in my riding of Kootenay—Columbia, I met with Bendina Miller, the past president of the Canadian Association for Community Living. The CACL was one of the main supporters of the vulnerable persons standard, the purpose of which is to protect the vulnerable in Canada, as Bill C-14, medical assistance in dying, moves forward. While the CACL believes that the bill in its current form takes appropriate steps toward addressing the vulnerability of people living with a disability, it believes some improvements are required to meet the Supreme Court's intent that the legislation must provide fair access to assisted death and also protect vulnerable persons who may be influenced or induced to use the system to die.
The Canadian Association for Community Living recommends five areas of substantive amendment to this draft bill. I will summarize them here.
First, Bill C-14 should be amended to extend the current requirement for judicial oversight until such time as a study of the merits and implications of the bill allows them to be clearly understood.
Second, included in the bill should be an explicit legal requirement to identify, explore, and record the sources of a person's suffering, and an attempt to address the motivations of his or her request for death.
Third, Bill C-14 should be amended to meet the requirements of the Carter decision and should specify that a voluntary request for medical assistance in dying cannot be made as a result of external pressure or any form of inducement.
Fourth, Bill C-14 should be amended to specify that the minister “will” make, not “may” make, regulations regarding the mandatory reporting of information about requests and the provision of assisted dying.
Fifth, it should mandate a palliative care or other professional evaluation to ensure patients' rights to informed consent by having information about the full range of available treatments and supports that could ease their suffering.
The bill should not proceed without an enhanced national palliative care strategy, which is clearly missing in the Liberal government's 2016-17 budget.
Back in November, I had the pleasure of meeting new members of Parliament from all of the parties represented here in the House, except the Green Party. I was struck by how consistent the words were from all of my colleagues. They said they were here to work collaboratively to build a better Canada. It was very encouraging for me as a new MP, because that is also why I am here.
When I am back home in my riding sharing with my constituents what we are doing here in the House, I tell them that we are working on three bills in particular that would fundamentally change Canada, going forward: first of all, proportional representation voting; second, legalizing marijuana; and third, physician-assisted suicide.
This is the first of those three bills to come to the House for debate and further study, and we need to work together collaboratively to build a better future for Canadians. The bill would do three things: maximize one's willingness to live through expanded palliative care, ensure that our vulnerable citizens are protected, and give our citizens the Supreme Court assured right to choose to die in the arms of someone who loves them, if they are experiencing enduring and intolerable suffering as a result of a grievous and irremediable medical condition.
Let us amend the bill collaboratively and give Canadians the best possible outcome on this very important and emotional issue.