Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I have not seen anything to reflect that specific concern. I think I would agree to some extent with Dr. Pereira that there are limitations in terms of the data, and I believe that Health Canada is going to be collecting more specific data on palliative care involvement to help inform these types of discussions.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I think that's a very difficult.... Are you talking about mental illness as a sole underlying medical condition?

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Yes, in preparation, we've had a lot of conversation about that. Certainly I'd be lying if I said that there wasn't apprehension about how we're going to be able to effectively support some of these patients. I think it perhaps goes back to another comment, which is that we're talking a lot about palliative care, but patients also require timely, ongoing access to other services in terms of mental health supports, complex pain and other specialized care.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  That's an excellent question. I think it's something we've struggled with, quite frankly, in terms of what the strategies look like. I think one of the interesting things about MAID is that most clinicians who are providing MAID are not doing it full time; they are doing it in addition to other work that they're committed to, so it has to be rewarding for them.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Yes, certainly there are some differences in terms of the experience of living in smaller communities and the types of institutions that exist in those communities. Not that there were many things that were positive about the pandemic, but thankfully, one thing was that virtual care became a very normal modality for providing linkages between patients and providers.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of this committee. Good morning, and good morning to my fellow panellists as well. I'm the director of the Champlain Regional MAID Network here in Ottawa. We provide care to patients throughout the Champlain region, going from roughly Pembroke all the way to Hawkesbury.