Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound.
It is with great humility that I stand in my place today as the member of Parliament for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke to represent the good people of my riding on such a weighty issue as the one before Parliament today, medical assistance in dying.
The debate strikes right at the heart of who we are as a nation, and I pray we get this right, as is humanly possible.
I thank all those constituents who answered my call to contact me regarding their thoughts on the legislation. I am pleased to confirm I have sought out the views from as many constituents as possible to guide, when the time comes, to support or oppose the government, or the Supreme Court, who are driving this issue today.
I have listened carefully to my fellow MPs on this topic. They have expressed various points of view eloquently. In keeping with my principles, and those for which my voters have elected and continue to re-elect me, I believe it is important to give a voice to those individuals who have not been given the opportunity to speak in this place, but should be heard.
I am pleased to add to the debate on medical assistance in dying with a sampling of letters and comments that have been received by my office to guide me in the debate. While time does not permit me to read all the correspondence I received onto the official record, I want to assure them that all points of view are important and will be considered.
This is a letter from Carmel in Pembroke. It reads, “Dear honourable member, I understand that the government plans to introduce a law regarding medical aid in dying. I totally disagree with many of the recommendations of the special joint committee on physician-assisted dying. Once euthanasia and assisted suicide are legalized we have embarked on a slippery slope. The boundaries will continue to be challenged. I urge you to write a law as restrictive as possible, and to respect and include the rights of many Canadians, who see any legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide as murder. As a former health care worker for many years, I urge the government to invest more money in palliative care. I know from experience, pain can be controlled. They will receive passionate loving care and death will come naturally. Trusting that common sense will prevail in your good judgment.”
This email was received from David in Arnprior:
“Hello Member of Parliament. I do not support this legislation, not because I do not firmly believe in a competent citizen's right to commit suicide at the end of life as determined solely and completely by that individual, but because C-14 does not go far enough. This bill certainly needs to be passed federally so a provincial regulatory ragtag patchwork does not evolve. As well, C-14 needs expansion in at least four areas: Enshrine my right to predetermine through a pre-arranged power of attorney for personal care that suicide is my wish if I become incapable of making that choice later on; in other words, similar to my legal right now to refuse treatment before treatment is ever needed. Enshrine my right to commit suicide on my own, without a doctor's direct assistance. This change will allow “medical practitioners” to merely prescribe requested and appropriate meds for this most personal action, not to have to do it themselves in an environment perhaps not of my own choosing. Following from number 2, ensure that a broad array of competently trained, caring “medical practitioners” beyond merely MDs are available to assist as I may desire; the so called “death doula” model. Ensure that the so-called mentally ill can benefit from the legislation if they are deemed competent to do so by due process, since by virtue of being labelled mentally ill, a person should not also be deemed mentally irrational or incompetent in all areas or aspects of life. This is very unlike children under 18 or the developmentally delayed however, who must be closely protected, at least by benefit of clear due process. At the same time, there is a clear need for those ethically opposed in both caring professions and institutions to be able to opt out because of their beliefs, but only insofar as they must also be compelled to refer me to those who are non-opposed. This should also hold true by the way, for abortion, legalized marijuana, and like matters. There is also a clear case for broadly based, publicly funded “palliative care” services for those who want this kind of assistance. At the end of one's life it must always be about informed and competent personal freedom of choice, whatever that choice may be. This is in fact the basis of all quality of life and death, as entrenched in our Canadian charter, as decided by our Supreme Court. A national referendum on the matter is unwise and not needed. Similarly, I refer you back to Conservative P.M. Mulroney's 1980s second election, which was a referendum/vote writ large on free trade. He won then, as did NAFTA. Therefore, I largely agree with the previous Pierre Trudeau's 1960s statement when he was Liberal justice minister: “The state has no right in the bedrooms of the nation”. I think that goes a bit too far. The state does have a "limited" right, but only to ensure vulnerable persons, as well as persons who may become vulnerable, are not exploited, and are always treated with dignity and respect. In this, the Dutch, Swiss and Oregon models serve well. Thank you; please do acknowledge this email and feel free to share your thoughts.”
This note was received from David in Combermere. It states, “Our local newspaper here in Barry's Bay featured your request for input on Bill C-14. Thank-you for doing that. I personally view the bill as a Pandora's box and with so much language that leaves it ambiguous enough for the Liberal government to permit almost anything for the killing of Canadians. I don't know if you follow the studied newsletters of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and its editor, Alex Schadenberg, but I am enclosing their latest issue on Bill C-14. It's a whopper. EPC clearly presents the issues I endorse and in a more studied way than I could present to you. Please consider it my opinion on this vital life and death issue that you are wanting to present to Parliament. Thank you for all that you can do in this matter. God bless you.”
This letter was received from Betty from Killaloe. It reads, “Dear Member of Parliament, I strongly oppose physician-assisted suicide. I believe that life is given to us by God and should be taken away by Him as well. We don't know what his plan is for us and we need to trust Him with our lives. Even for non-believers, once that door is open to taking the life of a patient who is terminally ill, how long will it be until a needle will be given to those who are in long-term care, who are costing the health care system a lot of money to keep them there? How about the disabled whom a lot of people believe are a burden to our society, the mentally ill, etc. Let us put money into our palliative care and hospices where people can die naturally. History has shown us that where people interfere with the natural order and God's plan, evil and disaster follow. God's law states "thou shalt not kill" which should be above all the laws of the land. Thank you for giving me a chance to express my views.”
This email came from a couple in Arnprior. It says, “Dear Member of Parliament, Both my wife and I are advocates for doctor-assisted dying. We not only would like to see assisted dying for those people who are in need of this procedure and who have their full faculties but even more so for the thousands of poor souls suffering from Alzheimer's and who cannot make an informed decision. What we suggest is that it be made legal for people to choose this option during the preparation of their will with family and/or doctor as witness to this wish. We have a mother in long-term care in Almonte and the number of people suffering from Alzheimer's disease far outnumber the people who are lucid. I am sure if these people had a choice it would be to end their lives rather than sit in wheelchairs all day and to be treated, through no fault of their own, like babies. Our total hearts and admiration go out to the nurses and aides who care for those in need. We cannot thank them enough.”
Nancy from Deep River wrote, “Dear Member of Parliament, I'm answering your request for feedback on the specific euthanasia bill. First, a few generalities. I see the entire dynamics against a background where there is a movement for a culture of death, COD, and a movement for a culture of life. The culture of death tends to be hidden and manipulative. The well researched documentary CD called ‘Agenda’ provides evidence of this. There are elitists who want to reduce the world population by almost any means. Some of them want to make a shambles of the capitalist system so that their socialist ideal swoops down as the saver of the world. It is ironic that these elitists are socialist. I have read that the CIA supported the radical feminist movement, which has been instrumental in tearing down family structures and consequently economic stability. Hilary Clinton said, quite clearly even if not in these exact words, because I don't remember exactly how she expressed it, that in our society there are Judeo-Christian values that ‘we’ have to get rid of.”
“Specific examples show this. ‘They rope in well-intentioned liberals, like fools conned into their service. Now to the specifics. The most dangerous thing about the bill is that there is nothing in the law to protect the conscience rights of medical personnel. This means we would have legislated immorality if the bill passes in its current form. Such a law would corrupt an important sector of the citizenry. Corrupt citizens are antithetical to a healthy democracy. If conscience protection is not in the law, it is almost certain that somehow the “inconvenience” of non-participating physicians will be swept aside by a bureaucracy, just as it is now in Quebec. The bill does have some restrictions. I can believe that it was drafted in order to satisfy the Supreme Court's mandate in a careful manner. There are two facts against an optimistic view of these restrictions. Note the language we hear on the news, about beginning gently with euthanasia. Such language indicates that the plan is over time to include more situations where euthanasia would be permissible. Make no mistake about these restrictions. Like dew on roses, they will evaporate. This has been the experience in Europe.”