Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Thank you. No, I don't think there are. I think the only safeguard is to make sure that people are at the end of their lives when they are accessing MAID. Death can't become a solution for the suffering of people with disabilities.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I had a lot of concerns with the expert panel report, which I'm sure doesn't surprise you. I think the evidence that we don't know whether mental illness is irremediable, and that we cannot identify that condition, was ignored. I think the data showing that that in Belgium and th

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I think there are a number of levels to that. I think that with the harms that Dr. Frazee has outlined and that Ms. Linton has shown us, no, I don't think a guaranteed minimum income would mean that it was okay to kill disabled people who are not at the end of their lives. I th

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I'm sorry. Go ahead.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I would say no, not if they are not at the end of their life. A competent non-disabled person does not have a right to receive MAID. I don't see why a competent disabled person would have a right to receive MAID.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  We deny that person access to effective pain management. We've seen with the opioid crisis that pain patients are the people who have been hurt a great deal by the denial of effective pain medications. If we're really worried about their unremitting pain, then we should be doing

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Sure. I'll make a couple of comments. None of us have spoken to you today about getting rid of track one. Dr. Frazee mentioned the importance of the word “natural” and that stopping eating is not a natural death. I think the flaw here is that track one is available to everybody

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I think we're saying that MAID is available to everyone, and why do we deny that to people with disabilities? I think the disability community feels that only track two MAID is available to them, and that we would like the government to be focusing on finding ways to make people'

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Can I respond to that?

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Thank you very much. While I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak to you today, I do so with a profound sense of despair over what is happening with track two MAID. No matter how many people tell you that Bill C-7 is dangerous and no matter how many people die because they c

Justice committee  Unless you've been able to apprehend the accused immediately, do all the tests and ensure what his alcohol and drug levels were, which is rarely the case in sexual assault, the Crown simply won't have the information as to how intoxicated the accused was at the time of the event.

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  My worry would be that the complainant has told the Crown, “He seemed really drunk” or “He seemed out of it” or “He seemed high”, so that the Crown will have some indication that this is an issue, and that may impact charging decisions. I'm less worried about the cases that mak

Justice committee  We know that if you're very drunk and sexually assault someone, that's no defence in Canadian law. If you're very, very, very drunk and [Technical difficulty—Editor].