Mr. Speaker, it is very clear that Bill C-218 is only about MAID for people with mental health issues solely. I would like to say that no member of the House denies that some Canadians suffer profoundly from mental illness. Their pain is real, and it deserves our deepest compassion, but compassion must be joined with clarity, and the evidence is unmistakable: Even after years of struggle, long-term recovery is possible. That is precisely why the experts tell us that irremediability in mental illness cannot be predicted.
We simply do not have the medical grounds to declare that a life is beyond hope. We have already seen cases where people were approved for MAID not because their condition was truly irremediable but because they lacked housing, treatment or basic support. That is not medicine; that is a system misreading desperation as destiny.
We know individuals who once begged for death, only to recover and to contribute greatly, including my colleague from Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, who openly speaks of a suicide attempt, a long journey back and a life now filled with purpose. When a person is standing on the edge, the role of a responsible nation is to pull them back.