Article By Dave Andrusko
Far more than their American counterparts, members of the Canadian parliamentary rarely stray from the wishes of party leadership. David Kilgour and John Kirsner write “Representative democracy in Canada is so dominated by political parties that some experts believe the party discipline exerted on most votes in our House of Commons and provincial legislatures is the tightest in the democratic world.”
Bill C-218, if passed, would permanently ban doctors and nurse practitioners from providing medically assisted dying (MAiD) to anyone whose only medical issue is a mental illness. (The legal term is “mental disorder.”)
C-218 is a Private Members’ Bills (PMBs) meaning it is not supported by the government. Chances of C-218 passing through the legislative process are daunting, but not impossible for several reasons.
The coalition supporting C-218—the “Right to Recover Act’’—is very broad, including disability rights organizations, faith organizations, and prominent conservative politicians, such as its sponsor MP Tamara Jansen.
In addition, as Jonathon Van Maren writes,
“A public campaign encouraging Canadians to tell their own stories of mental illness and recovery has been launched, with Andrew Lawton sharing his own filmed testimony and urging parliamentarians to vote in defense of the vulnerable.”
And is vitally important that
The recommendation to indefinitely pause and exclude MAiD for individuals whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness came from the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (commonly known as the AMAD Committee).
The report is titled “Medical Assistance in Dying and Mental Disorder as the Sole Underlying Medical Condition: A Complex and Challenging Conversation Among Canadians.”
Alex Schadenberg posted a very comprehensive overview of yesterday’s debate on C-218 which I reposted.
The remarks were extraordinarily powerful. Jansen concluded hers with this:
The measure of a compassionate society is not how efficiently it helps people die. It is whether, in the moment when someone can no longer see the value of their own life, the rest of us are prepared to see it for them.
Our answer to suffering should be care. Our answer to despair should be hope. And when someone believes there is no possibility of recovery, Canada should never be the one to agree with them.
That is why I am asking my colleagues to vote for Bill C-218.
Give Canadians the time, the care and the hope they need.
Give them the right to recover.
The vote on Bill C-218 is scheduled for October 7.
Be the first to comment