MEDICAL ASSISTANCE IN DYING
IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY EXPANDED. IN MARCH 2024, MAID COULD BE GRANTED TO INDIVIDUALS WHOSE ONLY MEDICAL PROBLEM IS A MENTAL ILLNESS.
It all began in February 2015, when the Supreme Court of Canada in Carter v. Canada has ruled that certain provisions of the Criminal Code must be amended in order to comply with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The provisions of the Criminal Code that prohibited medical assistance in dying would therefore no longer be valid. According to the ruling, the federal government had until June 6, 2016, to amend the Criminal Code.
In June 2016, the Parliament of Canada passed legislation that allows eligible Canadian adults to request medical assistance in dying. The beginning of a fundless slide for assisted suicide.
On October 5, 2020, the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of Canada tabled in Parliament former Bill C-7, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying), which proposes amendments to Canada's law on medical assistance in dying;
The filing of Bill C-7 followed the 2019 Quebec Superior Court decision in Truchon, which declared unconstitutional the Criminal Code's "reasonable foreseeability of natural death" eligibility test, as well as the "end of life" test in Quebec's Act respecting end-of-life care.
On March 17, 2021, the federal Liberal government passed Bill C-7 An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying) in order to revise the eligibility criteria for medical assistance in dying and allow people who meet the criteria to benefit from MAID, while maintaining that people with mental illness will only be able to apply for MAID for mental illness.
Exclusion
(2.1) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(a), a mental illness is not considered to be an illness, disease or disability.
In view of this exclusion, the bill provided that: "Additional consultations and further deliberations are required to decide whether it is appropriate to provide medical assistance in dying to persons with mental illness where mental illness is the only medical condition invoked. and, where appropriate, to decide how to do so, taking into account the inherent risks of allowing medical assistance in dying in such circumstances and the complexity of the issue";
The government therefore commissioned experts to study the aspect of mental illness in relation to MAID, and the exclusion of mental illness was to be lifted on 17 March 2023 so that it could be included in the definition to be eligible for MAID.
But thank God, following concerns expressed by experts and members of the Canadian public, on March 9, the government passed a bill (C-39) to postpone until March 17, 2024, the temporary exclusion from eligibility for MAID of people whose only medical condition is a mental illness. So we still have time to pray and act... but we must react quickly because the WMA has already grown far too much.
This practice, which was initially permitted in the name of the dignity of certain individuals whose suffering had been raised in court, will inevitably slide into a subtle form of euthanasia that awaits the most vulnerable.
We submit to you the arguments and recommendations of Ms. Georgia Vrakas, clinical psychologist, psychoeducator and associate professor in the Department of Psychoeducation of the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, at the Quebec City campus, which we support[1]:
"I want to position myself right away, so I am against the inclusion of mental illness as the only medical condition for medical assistance in dying, because, in the current context, for me, it would be an easy solution, in quotation marks, to solve a complex problem, without quotation marks... »
So mental illness as well as suicide are public health issues that require a public health response. The inclusion of mental illness as the sole ground in the Act respecting end-of-life care is, in my view, a political response to a public health problem. This law individualizes. I'm sick. I can't find a job. I am stigmatized. I want to stop suffering.
(...) It is a societal problem, one where mental illness is still taboo, still stigmatized, where access to mental health services is very difficult — we just have to look at the waiting lists, even in the private sector right now — where psychiatric research is underfunded, where funding for mental health promotion or prevention programs continues to decrease.
( ...) Recovery is at the heart of the mental health action plan, and here we find ourselves having to debate the inclusion of people with mental illness in MAID to supposedly help us die better when we do not even have access to the minimum services to help us live better, live, I mean "live", not "surviving", living well and with dignity. In this context, by giving the O.K. to MAID solely on the grounds of mental illness, we are given a clear signal of disengagement from the issue of health and mental illness. »
The sanctity of human life and dignity, protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, is interpreted in light of its preamble, which affirms the supremacy of God and recognizes the rule of law. According to this reasoning, human dignity and the right to life should be interpreted in light of the supremacy of God, for whom every life is precious and sacred, even those with mental illness.
As you read in the previous lines, the experts and members of the population have set the government back a year... we must make our opinion known to the government, otherwise the MAID will be further expanded.
We therefore encourage you to communicate your disagreement with this bill and your comments to the federal Minister of Justice https://www.noscommunes.ca/Members/fr/david-lametti(88501)#contact
and to the Senate at the following address: https://sencanada.ca/fr/comites/LCJC/Contact/44-1
or
Contact your Member of Parliament to let them know that you do not agree with this bill. To reach your MP, click on the following link:
https://www.noscommunes.ca/Members/fr/search?caucusId=all&province=QC&gender=all
(You will find the addresses by clicking on the button: click on the photo, then on contact and you will find the MP of your choice.)
[1] https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/2021-05-21/sante-mentale/l-aide-medicale-a-mourir-la-solution-facile-dit-une-chercheuse.php
UVVC legal department by Me Nathalie Michaud
In June 2016, the Parliament of Canada passed legislation that allows eligible Canadian adults to request medical assistance in dying. The beginning of a fundless slide for assisted suicide.
On October 5, 2020, the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of Canada tabled in Parliament former Bill C-7, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying), which proposes amendments to Canada's law on medical assistance in dying;
The filing of Bill C-7 followed the 2019 Quebec Superior Court decision in Truchon, which declared unconstitutional the Criminal Code's "reasonable foreseeability of natural death" eligibility test, as well as the "end of life" test in Quebec's Act respecting end-of-life care.
On March 17, 2021, the federal Liberal government passed Bill C-7 An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying) in order to revise the eligibility criteria for medical assistance in dying and allow people who meet the criteria to benefit from MAID, while maintaining that people with mental illness will only be able to apply for MAID for mental illness.
Exclusion
(2.1) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(a), a mental illness is not considered to be an illness, disease or disability.
In view of this exclusion, the bill provided that: "Additional consultations and further deliberations are required to decide whether it is appropriate to provide medical assistance in dying to persons with mental illness where mental illness is the only medical condition invoked. and, where appropriate, to decide how to do so, taking into account the inherent risks of allowing medical assistance in dying in such circumstances and the complexity of the issue";
The government therefore commissioned experts to study the aspect of mental illness in relation to MAID, and the exclusion of mental illness was to be lifted on 17 March 2023 so that it could be included in the definition to be eligible for MAID.
But thank God, following concerns expressed by experts and members of the Canadian public, on March 9, the government passed a bill (C-39) to postpone until March 17, 2024, the temporary exclusion from eligibility for MAID of people whose only medical condition is a mental illness. So we still have time to pray and act... but we must react quickly because the WMA has already grown far too much.
This practice, which was initially permitted in the name of the dignity of certain individuals whose suffering had been raised in court, will inevitably slide into a subtle form of euthanasia that awaits the most vulnerable.
We submit to you the arguments and recommendations of Ms. Georgia Vrakas, clinical psychologist, psychoeducator and associate professor in the Department of Psychoeducation of the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, at the Quebec City campus, which we support[1]:
"I want to position myself right away, so I am against the inclusion of mental illness as the only medical condition for medical assistance in dying, because, in the current context, for me, it would be an easy solution, in quotation marks, to solve a complex problem, without quotation marks... »
So mental illness as well as suicide are public health issues that require a public health response. The inclusion of mental illness as the sole ground in the Act respecting end-of-life care is, in my view, a political response to a public health problem. This law individualizes. I'm sick. I can't find a job. I am stigmatized. I want to stop suffering.
(...) It is a societal problem, one where mental illness is still taboo, still stigmatized, where access to mental health services is very difficult — we just have to look at the waiting lists, even in the private sector right now — where psychiatric research is underfunded, where funding for mental health promotion or prevention programs continues to decrease.
( ...) Recovery is at the heart of the mental health action plan, and here we find ourselves having to debate the inclusion of people with mental illness in MAID to supposedly help us die better when we do not even have access to the minimum services to help us live better, live, I mean "live", not "surviving", living well and with dignity. In this context, by giving the O.K. to MAID solely on the grounds of mental illness, we are given a clear signal of disengagement from the issue of health and mental illness. »
The sanctity of human life and dignity, protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, is interpreted in light of its preamble, which affirms the supremacy of God and recognizes the rule of law. According to this reasoning, human dignity and the right to life should be interpreted in light of the supremacy of God, for whom every life is precious and sacred, even those with mental illness.
As you read in the previous lines, the experts and members of the population have set the government back a year... we must make our opinion known to the government, otherwise the MAID will be further expanded.
We therefore encourage you to communicate your disagreement with this bill and your comments to the federal Minister of Justice https://www.noscommunes.ca/Members/fr/david-lametti(88501)#contact
and to the Senate at the following address: https://sencanada.ca/fr/comites/LCJC/Contact/44-1
or
Contact your Member of Parliament to let them know that you do not agree with this bill. To reach your MP, click on the following link:
https://www.noscommunes.ca/Members/fr/search?caucusId=all&province=QC&gender=all
(You will find the addresses by clicking on the button: click on the photo, then on contact and you will find the MP of your choice.)
[1] https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/2021-05-21/sante-mentale/l-aide-medicale-a-mourir-la-solution-facile-dit-une-chercheuse.php
UVVC legal department by Me Nathalie Michaud