Ottawa, Sep 22, 2020 (Issuewire.com) - Dozens of Canadians have signed an open letter to federal Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole seeking to advance "reasonable proposals" to protect vulnerable Canadians from the risks associated with widening access to Medical Assistance in Dying. The group, which includes several doctors from across the country, are seeking the protections as the Trudeau government is set to loosen the requirements to qualify for a medically assisted death in response to the Superior Court of Quebec's 2019 Truchon decision.
On September 11, 2019, the Superior Court of Québec found the "reasonable foreseeability of natural death" eligibility criterion in the Criminal Code, as well as the "end-of-life" criterion from Quebec's Act respecting end-of-life care, to be unconstitutional (Truchon v. Attorney General of Canada) (https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/pl/ad-am/index.html).
On February 24, 2020, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada introduced a bill, which would amend the Criminal Code to allow MAID for eligible persons who wish to pursue a medically assisted death, whether their natural death is reasonably foreseeable or not (https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/pl/ad-am/index.html).
Last August, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked the Governor-General to prorogue Parliament, thus killing all bills on the floor of the House of Commons. A Throne Speech is set for September 23 and the government is expected to reintroduce the Bill to widen access to Medical Assistance in Dying when the House resumes.
The Open Letter was based on an op-ed published in the Ottawa Citizen on September 10 by Dylan McGuinty Jr., an Estates Lawyer in Ottawa and Sessional Lecturer at Carleton University's Department of Law and Legal Studies, and Dr. Timothy Lau, a Psychiatrist at the Royal Ottawa Hospital and Distinguished Teacher at the University of Ottawa Medical School (https://www.google.ca/amp/s/ottawacitizen.com/opinion/mcguinty-and-lau-three-proposals-for-changing-the-law-on-medically-assisted-dying/wcm/775b2725-ad3c-4be3-a3e7-7e0e64c13e08/amp/).
According to Mr. McGuinty, "although many Canadians think the Bill is a step in the right direction, we should remember that there are significant risks for vulnerable Canadians in widening access to medical assistance in dying." "To clarify, he says, "vulnerable Canadians include all of us, at different times and stages in our lives." Mr. McGuinty adds, in a video linked to the Open Letter, that he believes the proposals "respect all sides of this emotionally fraught debate".
You can read the Open Letter at www.dylanmcguinty.com and you can forward the letter to Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole and to all Canadian provincial and territorial Premiers by clicking a link on the website.
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