Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Review boards are the mechanism that, on a one- or two-day basis, deal with many issues in the health care field today. That is absolutely established, and it does not result in judicial review morning, noon, and night, sir. It is a way of flexibly responding to the need for co

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  The provincial-territorial report essentially recommends to you that you adopt what is going on in Belgium and the Netherlands, and I think it is incumbent on you to know what is going on in Belgium and the Netherlands. A great deal has happened since Justice Smith received her e

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  I would do that. May I have just a moment—

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  I'm not disputing that, but let me just say that definition comes from Carter itself.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Sure. Of course.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  No, and that is contrary to the Supreme Court decision that there be decisions made by substitute decision-makers. It is also contrary to Carter that advance directives, as described by Professor Downie—

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  The court says it is the person at the time that the lethal dose is being administered—that is, treatment being administered. There is a requirement of capacity at that point.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  I would point out first of all at tab 4 of our material the chapter from Tom Shakespeare, which was put into evidence by the applicants in the Carter case. This was the evidence they advanced with regard to safeguards, where Mr. Shakespeare says that for people in this transition

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  We agree with that. It is a rejection of what is in the provincial-territorial report, which is a welcome change, and it is consistent with Professor Hogg's advice to you in terms of the constitutional division of powers. Also, the draft bill you have from us incorporates all of

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  First of all, unlike any other review board structure, this is the only one that exists in every province and every territory. It is required under the Criminal Code provisions. Second, we are talking about respecting the fact that these decisions are significantly different fro

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  May I say—

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  I want to reiterate a point made by the CCD to you, which is that while there is strong support in polls for physician-assisted dying—and that is not the issue, the Supreme Court having spoken—there are only two polls of which we are aware that address the issue of safeguards. Th

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  I'm going to make a preliminary comment and then turn things over to Professor Lemmens for a brief comment concerning the situation in Belgium and the Netherlands, which represents the model that has just been recommended by Professor Downie. I will then speak to the draft legisl