Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his interest in this matter.
What we heard in consultation after consultation across Canada is that the two safeguards in the current legislation are not doing their job as safeguards. All they did was add intolerable suffering on the person.
The two independent witnesses are merely there to witness the identity of the person who asks for MAID. In the decision to seek MAID, the assessments are all done prior to that by the medical professionals involved and the patient. This is really just a pro forma step. Having two witnesses, particularly for older people in remote areas of Canada who perhaps do not have any family left, became an unbearable impediment.
The 10-day reflection period came after the decision to have MAID. What happened is that people would, in some cases, not take their pain medication in order to not lose the capacity to make a final decision 10 days later.
It was believed virtually unanimously, among the experts, patients and others, that we should remove these two impediments, because they simply were not acting as safeguards and were increasing suffering.