Justice committee  One thing that is important is to allow people sufficient time to adapt to their new incapacity, to their new disability. Most often—and the evidence that was presented by the federal government in the Truchon case, showed—people, once they have adapted to their new situation, fi

Justice committee  I don't consider it care. It is not care to such an extent in the medical and legal sense of the term that Bill 52 amended the Act Respecting End-of-Life Care to clarify that providing a patient with a substance to cause death has become a medical act. That was not previously the

Justice committee  Can I respond?

Justice committee  Maybe I could chime in.

Justice committee  Thank you. First of all, when I talk about the most permissive regime, if you take the example of Holland, in Holland there is a requirement not only that some of the treatments be available, as it is in Bill C-7, but also that everything has been tried. This is not present in B

Justice committee  I am not a doctor, so it's very difficult for me to say so, but certainly we do not consider MAID to be medical care. Killing a person is never “care”. This is why it needed an amendment to the Criminal Code to allow that across Canada. We have fought in Quebec against Bill 52,

Justice committee  I'm not confusing all this, Mr. Thériault. However, I don't agree with you. We mustn't only look at the conditions in which people exercise their autonomy. We must first and foremost ensure that our society gives those people conditions to live. I don't know whether you are awar

Justice committee  I am thinking of Martin Lauzon, who had ALS and has now passed away. He had to fight for months to get a voice activated wheelchair. It would have been easier for him to request medical assistance in dying than to obtain the appropriate care, and that is what we are hearing from

Justice committee  Let me finish.

Justice committee  No, but this bill talks about removing or weakening a number of safeguards, even for people at the end of their life, but the legislation should be reviewed.

Justice committee  Listen, the idea is not to make people suffer....

Justice committee  Let me first say that once a person demands a particular medical treatment, a physician, in his own professionalism, is not forced to provide that service. He will seek the service that is most appropriate for the patient. As to the referral, I understand that the situation in r

Justice committee  Absolutely. Absolutely.

Justice committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. As a lawyer and former president of the Living With Dignity network, I thank you for giving us this opportunity to share some observations. I will be very brief, as everything else is provided in our brief. The Living With Dignity network was founded in

Justice committee  Yes, it should. Maybe it's not over yet. As some earlier participants mentioned, there is always a possibility of referring Bill C-7 to the Supreme Court of Canada directly. More importantly, I think Bill C-7 goes much beyond what is required to comply with the Truchon decision