Garnett Genuis

[Criminal Code, May 3rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague has talked about the notwithstanding clause and, realistically, that would be anathema to the current government. The Liberals' attitude seems to be that one cannot even disagree or hold a different point of view than that of the Supreme Court.

However, at the same time, the government needs to accept responsibility for, in fact, in some ways, going much further than the court decision. We have things like the reasonable but mistaken clause, which would allow someone to escape prosecution for taking someone's life who maybe did not consent if that person had a reasonable but mistaken belief that the criteria were met. The court referred to that there is nothing in its decision that should infringe on conscience, but yet we see the legislation has no protection on conscience.

Could the member comment on the fact that the government is not just implementing what the Supreme Court directed, but is actually going much further, and it needs to take responsibility for that?

[Criminal Code, May 3rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for her eloquent remarks, specifically around the importance of palliative care. We have heard from the NDP some agreement with what we have been saying, which is on the importance of palliative care as well as conscience protection. We have actually heard the Liberals in some instances, and in different ways, saying that these things are important as well.

My view would be that we need to make sure that these things are included in this legislation, that we have protection for a right for someone to access palliative care, and a right of conscience. We hear reassurances from the government that it cares about these things as well, so let us get this into legislation so that Canadians and those of us who are voting on the bill can have certainty that those rights will be protected.

Would the member agree that we need amendments specifically in this legislation, not just separate funding commitments, but amendments in this legislation, to ensure that people will be offered palliative care and that there will be protection of conscience?

[Criminal Code, May 3rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the member about the concept of advance review by a competent legal authority. One of the concerns I have with this legislation is that we have various criteria, some of which I think need to be more specific, but there is no mechanism for ensuring that complex legal criteria are met. What some have proposed, and there has been some agreement from at least one member on the other side, is that if we had a system in place where there was someone with not just medical but legal expertise reviewing it to say, yes or no, the criteria are or are not met in this case, that would be a good way of ensuring that vulnerable people, the people who do not consent or do not meet the criteria, are not being pushed into it or receiving euthanasia or assisted suicide without the law being followed.

Would the member agree with me that an amendment to ensure some kind of advance review by competent legal authority would be an effective way of improving this bill?

[Criminal Code, May 3rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague referenced the government's supposed commitment on palliative care, but it is actually worse than that, because the Liberals have said palliative or home care. One of the members pointed out quite rightly that palliative care can happen in the home, but these are not the same thing. There are many kinds of home care that are very much essential which are not the same as palliative care.

I would say it is important that we deal with palliative care, not just separately maybe sometime in the future, but specifically in this legislation. The federal expert panel, which the previous government set up, was clear that people cannot be construed to have consented to euthanasia or assisted suicide unless they had an option of palliative care available to them.

I would like the member's comments on that.

[Criminal Code, May 3rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I have two specific follow-up questions. The member alluded to the government's commitment on home care, but we need to be clear that there is a big difference between palliative care and home care. Home care is the care that someone receives in their home to support their ongoing independence—it could be at varying stages—and palliative care is specifically the care for those who are dying.

I wonder if the member could clarify what kinds of investments we will see in palliative care, especially since neither of these things were in the budget.

Second, I want to ask him about contemporaneous consent, because the concern I have is that if we were to move down the road of having advance directives in this legislation, we would have a very different consent there than for sexual consent. In the context of sexual consent, of course, we require contemporaneous consent.

Why would we have a lower bar for consent when someone is choosing to die than for someone who is choosing to engage in sexual activity?

[Criminal Code, May 3rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his speech, and particularly for having the courage to share some of his personal story and interactions with dying. These personal stories help us to add context.

Unfortunately, because of the lack of palliative care that we have in this country, there are many cases where a person may think or be told that their pain is not manageable when in fact their pain is manageable. This is why I think we need a greater emphasis on palliative care and pain management.

I want to ask specifically about dealing with palliative care in the context of the legislation before us. We have heard that there is a commitment, not in this budget but at some point in the future, to make investments in palliative care. Most of us think that is a good thing. The problem is that individuals do not have access to quality palliative care, and yet there is no allowance in the legislation requiring that they be offered palliative care before pursuing the option of assisted suicide or euthanasia.

I wonder if the member would support an amendment, as was recommended this morning in committee by an association representing palliative care doctors, to ensure that people would be offered palliative care, and that people would not opt for euthanasia simply because they do not have access to palliative care.

[Criminal Code, May 3rd, 2016]

Madam Speaker, I believe that at the beginning of his comments my hon. friend talked about what dignity is and said that dignity is up to the individual to decide. If you decide you have dignity, then you do, and perhaps if you decide you do not have dignity, then you do not. I find this definition rather troubling. First, there is no regime of assisted suicide proposed here or anywhere else that defines dignity in this wholly subjective way. It still tries to say that a person who has these physical or psychological symptoms can have dignity and someone without those symptoms cannot. It would seem that the typical understanding of dignity in this legislation and elsewhere does look for these external markers.

I liked what my colleague from Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier had to say yesterday about dignity being intrinsic to all human beings, because if we interpret dignity in the subjective way that the member has, I wonder where that leaves any efforts at suicide prevention. If a person said, regardless of his or her external circumstances, that he or she does not have dignity, then where does that leave efforts to tell that person that he or she does have intrinsic dignity and that he or she should not take his or her life? I wonder what the member thinks about the implications of his account of dignity for anyone in a difficult situation, anyone who might want to take his or her life.

[Criminal Code, May 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I think the hon. member respectfully engaged in some obvious sleight of hand with respect to the conscience provisions that are not in this legislation. He has said that it is a misconception to say that this legislation does not address conscience, but then he says there is nothing in the legislation that would directly infringe conscience. The fact is that the legislation does not contain conscience protection.

The member is right that it would not require the infringement of conscience, but it does not contain conscience protection. The effect of the absence of conscience protection is that in the province of Ontario at least, and perhaps other provinces, as soon as this legislation takes effect and euthanasia will enter the standard of care, physicians will be required to either refer or even, in certain situations, will be required to provide. The member should know that this would be the clear effect of this legislation. He should acknowledge that.

Again, if the member thinks conscience is important, why does the government not put forward amendments which would actually ensure the protection of conscience? Let us stop this slippery game about the language. If we all agree that conscience is important, why do we not firmly protect it in the legislation?

[Criminal Code, May 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, with respect to palliative care, one of the proposals we have heard is to have a right to palliative care put into this legislation. We could not fully operationalize it today, but we could introduce a right that people could expect to have. That would fit really well with this.

This bill provides no conscience protection for doctors and nurses. If Parliament supports this bill, doctors in Ontario will not be able to opt out of performing euthanasia, and it is possible that some doctors will leave the profession. I urge the government to include conscience protection for doctors in this bill.

Does the hon. member agree with that?

[Criminal Code, May 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, as a follow-up to my previous question, to put a finer point on it, the current policy of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is to require referral if something falls within the standard of care, or in an emergency or urgent situation, to actually require the provision of that service. This is not something that can wait for further consultation, because if this legislation passes, then right after June 6, or whenever this would take effect, it would be required in Ontario for physicians to either refer or potentially to provide this service.

If the member accepts the value of protecting conscience, recognizing that this could be the reality and the outcome in her riding once this legislation passes, would she not support immediate changes to this legislation which formally and directly would ensure the protection of conscience in that legislation?