Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise and speak today for those who cannot, people who have been marginalized and whose voices have been silenced and cast aside by the governing class. They are those would be victimized by Bill C-7. I would like to talk about the calls and the meetings I have had with constituents and with concerned Canadians about this, but first I have a personal story to share.
Last week the nursing home in Arnprior completed its professional and compassionate care for an elderly family member of mine, who has been in its care for the past few years. Audrey gradually declined into dementia and experienced extreme fear and anxiety over the last few years, yet in the final months of her life, knowing that death could come to her at any time, the staff, that is the doctors, the nurses and the personal support workers, continued to value her with the respect that every person deserves. They provided her with wonderful palliative care, and ensured her comfort in making sure that all her physical needs were met. They acknowledged her spiritual life and ensured she had access to the presence of her family and prayerful support of clergy as well. Last week, after 96 years, Audrey peacefully passed to eternal life.
This is the kind of care that recognizes the intrinsic beauty, value and dignity of the human person. It is the kind of care that should be the standard for every Canadian. Bill C-7 seeks to remove necessary safeguards that are meant to protect the vulnerable from euthanasia and expands access to euthanasia for those for whom death is not reasonably foreseeable. This bill is dangerous, and it will lead to countless early and tragic deaths.
As I mentioned, I have received calls from and met with concerned Canadians, including members of my community, and specifically members of the disabled community. They have been pleading for changes to be made that will protect them when they are at their most vulnerable. We need to ensure that human dignity is the foundational block on which we make all decisions in this place, and that the inherent value that each and every one of us has, regardless of disability or diagnosis, is enshrined, protected and preserved. It is an inherent and inalienable value that we have because of our nature.
So often, today, it seems as though the concept of human nature is lost, but, regardless of that, the fact remains that true dignity cannot be understood without the presupposition that people, by our very being, are bearers of value that must continuously be rediscovered and reaffirmed, not degraded, invented or imposed in an arbitrary and subjective manner.
We have heard testimony from people, especially the disabled community, who are fearful for what this bill would mean for them in the future, that it would both directly and indirectly lessen their inherent human dignity and human value. We have the chance to rediscover and reaffirm that value that is present in every one of us. We have the chance to look at the preferential option for the vulnerable among us and especially those who are vulnerable to this legislation. Of course, that option is to reaffirm the dignity of the human person.
So often in the past we have seen the outcomes of states and lawmakers who cast the dignity and value of the human person to the wayside, and the outcomes have not been very good. That is why this foundational block is so important. If we are to live and work in a truly right and just society, reaffirming human dignity must always be at the forefront of our mind as we make decisions, especially as parliamentarians dealing with bills like this one, where there are no higher stakes.
This brings me to the societal consensus used for the rationale of this bill. I find it hard to believe as a society we would come to a consensus that a bill was needed that has the potential to victimize the most vulnerable among us. Perhaps it is negating a foundation of essential value inherent in human life, which can make laws dependent on fleeting trends of dominant thought where we can see law being used as an instrument of power rather than subordinating power to the law. Again, the vulnerable must be front of mind.
With this bill, death would be offered to people before they are offered or receive meaningful access to adequate care. When someone is at an extremely low point, imagine after a catastrophic injury that left them disabled, they would be offered death as a standard of care and not given the support and treatment they need to lift themselves up from that low point to feel good again.
During the previous Parliament, I was pleased to speak to the Accessible Canada Act. It is a life-affirming bill for which the dignity of the human person and preferable option for the vulnerable was at its very heart.
Now we have Bill C-7, which is an absolute departure from that notion. Instead of reaffirming the worth and inherent value of disabled people, this bill says they are worth less than the able-bodied and that their life for what it is and what it could be is not worth living.
We must stand up for and defend the vulnerable when we are in this place. We must be their voice when they are ignored and set aside. We must assure that someone's worst day is not their last. For all those who wanted to share their perspective, who wanted their voice heard but who were not able and not heard by the government, there were parliamentarians listening. For those who have practised and offered palliative care, like was done for Audrey up until the day she passed, I thank them. The work they do for people when they are at their most vulnerable is so important to ensure we, as a society, respect the value of people's lives until their natural death.
The government has made a habit of hastily putting legislation before this House. We have a court-imposed deadline we know it is seeking to meet, but this bill goes much further than just satisfying what has been asked of it by the courts and does so needlessly. It is not too late for the government to walk back from this dangerous and harmful bill.