Justice committee  I can say, from four years of experience, that it is much more difficult in rural areas, because there are limited alternatives for patients. In simple terms of travel for sick people, using two ferries just to come to Vancouver Island would be a challenge. They might have just one physician on the small remote island, or a physician who might fly in and fly out every two weeks.

Justice committee  We know from our experience that patients are not sick for just a week. They learn that they have cancer for months or years. People with disabilities have told me that they are often insulted by the thought that they have made sudden and urgent decisions after having lived brave and courageous lives dealing with those disabilities.

Justice committee  I have a very different viewpoint. In my experience as a MAID provider, especially for people with disabilities and even advanced illnesses, such as multiple sclerosis, the entire treatment team had been obstructing patients' access to care, and actually inducing traumatic stress in those patients and their families with their personal views that patients should keep on trying when they have really reached the end of the line, after years or decades of illness.

Justice committee  Thank you for allowing me to speak. I'm a family physician from Vancouver Island, servicing rural communities. I have been a physician for 20 years in total and have done MAID since 2016. I want to thank Parliament for the time it has given to study Bill C-7, because I know that for some it will seem to never be safe enough.