Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Have the standards for medical practice been developed? We have the national standards, which have been developed with advice to the profession, yes.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  That is correct, yes.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  That's correct.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  There wouldn't have been any, because we didn't have—

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  That's correct. I will say that for the one I tried to register for, I am now on a wait-list because I can't [Inaudible—Editor].

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I don't think that from a CPA perspective I can say all the readiness is there, because for health systems readiness, the CPA wouldn't have all the information necessary to make a comment on that. I can comment on clinical readiness and standards.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I think one thing we have to think a bit about is that just because somebody applies for an assessment for medical assistance in dying does not mean they become eligible for it. The standards, with advice to the professions as part of the standards, clearly articulate some of the things that need to be carefully considered as part of an assessment.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I don't think I can do that. I believe that a lot of time and effort has been put into doing this. I am reflective of some of the comments my colleague made at the beginning of this. We've had quite a long time to think about it. We have allowed other complex medical disorders to be involved in track two MAID, with a lot of similar issues related to mental disorder, so we have to think about that.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  The first thing I will restate is that I believe psychiatrists do have expertise in some of the areas that are pertinent to assessment in MAID, such as the diagnosis and understanding of refractory illness, capacity issues and the assessment of suicide. What we've learned is more about MAID and its delivery, and we understand that no one profession can do this alone.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  What you're asking me is whether we have enough psychiatry resources to do this. We have to step back and say that when we look at mental health and addictions, we don't have enough resources for all kinds of things that we do in the delivery of mental health care and the provision of expert opinion on the different issues.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  No, I think I'm saying that what we understand is there are not enough resources in many aspects of health care. What we know is that in terms of the number of psychiatrists available to Canadians, there are probably not enough and we continue to have a wait-list for people to access expertise.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I think that's part of what we're trying to ascertain today. In thinking about readiness, there are different aspects to readiness. Are we ready from a national perspective? Do we have the appropriate national standards? I think we do have those. Do we have a nationally available training curriculum for people?

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  In terms of who is currently signed up, that is the information I have been provided. I would say that the CPA is not monitoring the exact number of psychiatrists participating—

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I'm sorry, but you cut out at the last minute there.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I think one of the things to consider—and I think Ms. Birenbaum did a really nice job of elucidating this—is that psychiatrists are trained on a number of the important issues as experts providing consultation to a process of assessment for MAID. All psychiatrists undertake a minimum of five years of training, and what we focus on is diagnostic assessment, treatment planning, evidence-based approaches—