Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Thanks for the question. There are a couple of parts. If I forget some, please remind me. I do think that we've had precedents. We've had experience in the past five years before the amendments. We saw patients who were nearing the end and were really fearful of losing the capa

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Thanks for the question. CAMAP is particularly proud of our development of this particular program. This is a national program that is federally funded by Health Canada. It is a multi-year program. It is meant to help clinicians who are new to the field as well as those who are

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I wouldn't presume to be able to answer that.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  It's been just a year since we've had these patients coming forward, and very few of them. Ideologically, I can tell you that I've been in the health care system for several decades, and there are many gaps in our health care system. I don't think we need MAID to point that out.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I won't talk about any particular cases, because there are still very low numbers of people from the track two coming forward, and even less in the circumstance you describe, though I'm sure it's not zero. I think what we are starting to see, as I mentioned, are people coming fo

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I'm comfortable saying that I'm comfortable to provide MAID to mental health patients who fulfill the criteria of the law, absolutely. I would not withdraw my services there.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  To be honest, I think when mental health patients start to step forward for this care, we're going to have to be very careful with how we assess them. I think it's valid to think we're going to need more expertise. We're going to need more consultations. We're going to need to

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  No, I would disagree with that. I think we have lots of experience determining whether minors have or do not have capacity to make their own decisions. We've been doing that for decades. We certainly have experience in reproductive health choices, in blood products and in lots

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I'm just going to say that you shouldn't make assumptions. I'll take the question. Do you want me to answer that first?

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Certainly as the representation of CAMAP, I'm always careful. Our organization does not advocate MAID in any particular patient population. We advocate the highest level of care under the current law. If our law is to allow mental health patients to access MAID in 2023, then we

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Well, to be honest, it's a legal question. I think it's discriminatory to tell people they're not allowed to access MAID based on a diagnosis. I understand that decision. I'm in favour of following the decision of the House of Commons and the Senate. I'll do my best to provide

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Thank you to the committee for the opportunity to speak with you today. I'm here as the president of the Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers, the clinical subject matter experts on MAID in Canada, and as an experienced practitioner. As my remarks must be limite

Justice committee  This is a real concern among patients and their families. Even after years of experience, even after I can tell patients that there's no reason to believe they should stop their pain medications, that there's no reason to believe they're going to lose capacity.... I can reassure

Justice committee  Madam Chair, I think it's important to point out that Bill C-14 and Bill C-7 are very clear about protecting, respecting and supporting conscience rights, and certainly our organization is very strongly in support of that, but when people do not follow professional guidelines to

Justice committee  I think the issue of coercion has been raised many times by many people. There are a lot of different ways to answer that question, but ultimately what you're asking my colleagues and me is whether we know how to do our job. I know that seems very personalized, but the truth is