Madam Speaker, there is a poem by the great Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas, entitled, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. It is a poem of a son calling out to his dying father to fight his imminent death, and it ends as follows:
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
He is imploring his father to fight to the very end, to rage against the dying of the light. I believe this stanza describes the very essence of western philosophy when it comes to dying. Simply put, do not accept death.
However, life is terminal. The very definition of life is to die. A rock does not live, because a rock does not die. A tree lives, because a tree dies. A person lives, because he or she dies. So, am I going to die?
This is the subject of an excellent Ted Talks by a first responder. It is about a paramedic who would often arrive at the scene of an accident only to find a victim whose injuries were so severe that he or she was not going to survive. These victims would inevitably look up to this paramedic and ask: “Am I going to die?” In those moments, he would always lie and say no. He did so because he thought that was the kind, caring thing to do. Then a few years ago, he arrived at the scene of a severe motorcycle accident to find a victim who again asked the same question. For some reason, he told the truth and said yes. The reaction was not what he expected. The victim showed calm, inner peace, wisdom, and acceptance. From that time forward, he always told the truth.
Dylan Thomas in his poem tells us “wise men at their end know dark is right”. Therefore, am I going to die? Yes. We are all going to die.
Now we find ourselves discussing an issue that is foreign to many of us. With Bill C-14, we are trying to determine when it is acceptable to accept to die. That is to say, when it is acceptable to go gentle into that good night. This is essentially what we are debating with this bill.
Some argue that the bill should follow the Supreme Court's ruling to the letter. Some argue that the bill should be broad to encompass all possible scenarios. Some argue that the bill should be narrow and restricted so as to protect the vulnerable. Some argue that there should be no bill at all, and we should not be on this path regardless of what the Supreme Court says.
Here in the House we have had great debate on this matter. It has been passionate, intelligent, and respectful. It has been the House of Parliament at its best. For example, the member for St. Albert—Edmonton, who was on the special joint committee that prepared the guiding report for this legislation, has spoken eloquently on why he believes this bill is missing certain key protections. On the other hand, the member for Victoria, who was also on the special joint committee, has expressed, in a thoughtful, intelligent manner, his strong belief that the bill is too restrictive in certain areas.
I have received numerous personal letters from many sides of this argument, letters from people who are suffering now and fear not being able to access this gentle path when their time comes. Other letters are from caregivers who look after the grievously sick, the aged, and the mentally incapacitated. They are deeply concerned that these vulnerable people will not be protected. My own father has written on this bill.
I was out meeting constituents a few weeks ago and a lady came up to me. She said that she really liked what my father had written in the newspaper. Now, people get confused at times, and I did not know about this, so I just thanked her. When I got home, I called my father and asked if he wrote something in the paper. He said, “Yes”. I asked to see it, if he could email it me. He said, “No, I've erased it”, because he does not like to keep clutter on his computer.
I asked him to explain the gist of what he said, and he went on to explain that the term “reasonably foreseeable natural death” was a difficult one, even for a physician. My father had suffered severe heart attacks 25 years ago and was told to put his affairs in order by his physician.
Here he was, using the example of his own life to say, “I am alive 25 years later.” He is alive because on a dark night 25 years ago, he chose to “rage against the dying of the light.”
None of these people are wrong. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone's opinion is valid. For each person, that destination, that moment in time when it is acceptable to accept death is different, and rightfully so.
If the destination is uncertain, how do we arrive at it? Cautiously. There is a concept in engineering called “overshoot”. Simply put, the faster one arrives at their destination, the more likely one is to overshoot it. For example, if someone is driving in a car toward a stop sign and if he or she is going very fast and slams on the brakes, the individual will shoot past the stop sign. On the other hand, if someone goes very slowly, it will take that individual very long time to get to the stop sign and he or she may even stop short.
We have an uncertain destination that is different for each person. How do we get there? Cautiously. We go toward that destination slowly. This is precisely the approach that the Minister of Health and the Minister of Justice have decided to take.
With Bill C-14, we are moving forward to this destination slowly, and we accept that we may even stop short. The bill acknowledges this. It is explicitly written into the law that it will be re-examined in a few years' time, precisely to allow for adjustments.
This is a very wise approach, and I commend the Minister of Health and the Minister of Justice for the work they have done to bring us here.
In summary, we will all face our death. At that time, some of us will choose to fight death to bitter end. As a society, we already support that decision and we use the full weight of our medical system to help those people who choose to "rage against the dying of the light".
On the other hand, some of us will choose to accept death with inner peace and calm. As a society, we must now accept their decision and allow our medical system to help them. With this bill, we will help some of those people to "go gentle into that good night."