44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 13, 2023 11:00AM
Madam Speaker, I thank all my colleagues who have spoken so eloquently here these past many hours.
It will come as no surprise to my colleagues that I am opposed to medical assistance in dying and also opposed to any expansion thereof, but I will be voting in favour of Bill C-39, because what it would do is delay the imminent move the Liberal government wants to make, which is to extend MAID to those with mental illnesses.
When MAID first came to this House and was presented by the Liberal government, I was on the justice committee, and I, early on, warned this House that MAID was going to be a slippery slope, that “reasonably foreseeable” would not remain the standard by which MAID cases would be adjudicated, and that the legislation would also pose a serious threat to those with disabilities, the elderly, the poor and particularly those with mental health issues.
In August of last year, the Associated Press and the National Post both published reports on what has been happening in Canada's hospitals since the Liberal government introduced one of the most permissive assisted suicide regimes in the world. The results are alarming. In an interview, Tim Stainton, director of UBC's Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship and one of our leading experts on the subject, called MAID “the biggest existential threat to disabled people since the Nazis' program in Germany in the 1930s.”
A follow-up article in Forbes magazine written by journalist Gus Alexiou, who himself suffers from multiple sclerosis, states, “unfettered accessibility [to MAID] could...prove to be one of the most malignant forces the disability community [including those with mental disability or illness] has had to contend with since the 'mercy killings' of the Third Reich almost nine decades ago.”
This is because their reporting discovered that the people who are being targeted for MAID, and I do not think “targeted” is too wrong a word to use, are the most vulnerable Canadians: those who are disabled, seniors, those living in poverty and those with a mental illness.
Their story begins with Alan from B.C., who suffered from severe depression. He was administered MAID shortly after being taken to the hospital for a psychotic episode. His family begged the doctors not to kill him, as he had been involuntarily admitted and was in the throes of a psychotic episode when he demanded MAID. The family's pleas were ignored, and Alan was dead shortly thereafter. As Dr. Mark Komrad, a psychologist at John Hopkins Hospital, accurately predicted, our law “will provide, not prevent, suicide for some psychiatric patients.” Alan's death was not a reasonably foreseeable death. He was killed because he had a mental health condition.
Then, there was a disturbing incident where a Veterans Affairs agent casually offered MAID to a veteran with PTSD and a traumatic brain injury, something they had no business doing. To its credit, the government dealt with that employee, and I commend it for that, as I commend it for taking this pause on MAID expansion. I was in government, and I know how hard it is to walk back on things. It takes courage to do that, so I am glad the government has seen fit to do so. However, it turns out this one veteran incident was not an isolated incident; it was one of six incidents, that we know of, where it was suggested that veterans should consider assisted death.
Moreover, let us be clear about what we are talking about, because as I listened to the justice minister and read some of what has been put into print, it does not sound like he is convinced that those with mental illness should not receive MAID. It just sounds like he was not ready to go.
CBC, on February 2 of this year, quoted him as saying:
COVID slowed everything down. To be honest, we could have gone forward with the original date, but we want to be sure, we want to be safe, we want everyone to be on the same page.
We want, in particular, those health practitioners, those faculties of medicine, colleges who had some concerns to have the time to internalize what is happening.
Let me read that sentence again: “We want, in particular, those health practitioners, those faculties of medicine, colleges who had some concerns to have time to internalize what is happening.” That does not sound like an about-face to me. It sounds like the minister and the government still have every intention of moving forward with this.
According the National Post, a 2021 report by the UN “warned that Canada's liberalization of euthanasia posed a dire threats to its elderly and [infirm] populations.” That threat certainly includes those suffering with mental illness. The report said, “There is a grave concern that, if assisted dying is made available for all persons with a health condition or impairment [including mental health]...a social assumption might follow...that it is better to be dead than to live with a disability.” Given what we have seen to date, that certainly appears to be the case.
Just a little less than a year ago, last February, I received an email from a constituent. She is not my constituent but a constituent of a Liberal member of Parliament. It was sent to several MPs. I would like to read it into the record. It comes from a woman by the name of Melissa, and this is what she said:
...I was the farthest thing from a being a productive member of society. 15 years ago I was struggling really badly. I had entered into my second year of grade 10, which was due to a mental health diagnosis. I was diagnosed with PTSD, a personality disorder, major depression, and I had anxiety and was on a bunch of antipsychotics. I was in and out of crisis stabilization units, psych wards and a couple years later I got kicked out [of] a safe home for youth. I got kicked out of school and home because I was overdosing on the prescription medication and was self mutilating. I was a lost cause and didn't want [to] live and suicide was the only way out from all this pain......or so I thought.
She continued:
...it would have made me a prime candidate for MAiD, since my condition was nearly impossible to overcome apart from a miracle. I was a burden on my family, the medical system, the education system, and on top of it had chronic stomach issues and back pain which I would frequent the hospitals for. If I had an open door to access MAiD, that would have been something I would have seriously considered and would not be here to tell you about my story.
There are so many young teens that, like myself grow up in broken homes and get stuck in hopelessness and despair, and there are others who have everything they could ever want, yet still suffer from issues affecting their mental and physical health. Not everyone overcomes and it gets carried into their adult life, which makes them eligible for Medical Assistance in Dying.
She went on to say:
When you make the choice to go through with MAiD you no longer have an opportunity to go back and reconsider your decision. I know people suffer, and life can be tough and there are moments that seem unbearable. But there is Hope!!!! I've been there before. I suffered for over 10 years, I started on antidepressants by the age of 12, and by [the] middle of high school I had lost my mind and just wanted to end it.
Yet taking life is a very serious matter. I met Jesus who became my hope, I know that the name of Jesus has been frequently misrepresented but, the Jesus I met truly takes away needless pain and suffering.
Then she addressed her Liberal member of Parliament and asked him to reconsider his support for this particular bill.
Sadly, this is happening in Canada at the same time as we are facing a growing and serious health care crisis that has been exacerbated by years of COVID, restrictions and delays. Millions of Canadians are unable to access primary care, and wait times for doctors, appointments, surgeries, mental health support and emergency room visits are among the longest in the developed world.
Since it was expanded, MAID has seen a dramatic upswing, exacerbated by COVID-19 and the inability of too many Canadians to access timely and proper health care, including a lack of mental health supports. In fact, in an Angus Reid survey that just came out today, 55% of Canadians are worried that the expansion of MAID will become a substitute for social services.
An ER doctor recently told my office that prior to COVID, mental health cases accounted for one in every seven ER visits. Post-COVID and post-restrictions, that number is one in three. According research in the National Post, 2020 saw a 17% increase in MAID deaths over 2019 that disproportionately involved the elderly. I see no reason why we will not see an even more significant jump if MAID legislation is permanently expanded to include mental illness.
I recognize there are many for whom every day is a struggle and for whom mental health and physical health issues are debilitating. I will not begin to pretend that I know what it is like, and I want to be sensitive to that, but I believe that every human life, whatever the contents and challenges of that life may be, holds an innate and sacred dignity. Only God can give life and only God should be able to take life. It is my deeply held conviction that from conception to natural death, life is a precious gift.
It is the role of government to seek the best for all its citizens. We must adopt policies that embrace that gift, policies that uphold life and reinforce the value of every citizen. As Pope Francis put it during his recent Canadian tour, “We need to learn how to listen to the pain...of patients who, in place of affection, are administered death.”
We need to be there for the elderly, the infirm, the disabled. We need to be there for those who are suffering from mental illness, not offering the needle—
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Madam Speaker, absolutely we need to support individuals. We know that in the recent health care proposal from the federal government to the premiers of the provinces, there was no mention of mental health care support. That is very unfortunate. The Liberals had a wonderful opportunity to expand on and incorporate it into the funding they were providing to the territories and provinces and they chose not to do that.
In addition, with respect to providing supports for folks suffering from a mental health crisis, we know that the cost of living has become a huge burden for individuals and has intensified their feelings of hopelessness and exasperation. Under the Liberal government, we have seen the cost of living increase significantly, and we are going to see it increase more with its proposals for additional taxes.
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Madam Speaker, I partially answered that question in my speech. I am voting in favour of Bill C-39, which will provide for an extension of one year. I think the government needs to sit back, take a pause and listen to what the experts and Canadians are saying. Is this legislation they really want? Is it something we should move forward with?
I hope the government takes the time to reflect on this. Based on the comments the Minister of Justice has made in this House and in the media, I am not optimistic that he is going to do that. I think for him this is a one-year delay of his plan of implementation to provide MAID to people who are suffering with mental illness. I hope he takes the time, together with his party, to re-evaluate moving ahead with this legislation. In fact, I hope they stop it, because it is wrong.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Hamilton East—Stoney Creek for that really good question.
On the surface, it might appear as though we are not supporting the people he made reference to, who need the help I spoke about in my speech. However, that is not the case. What we want to do is give people their freedom back, like the freedom to make choices, which the Liberal-NDP coalition has taken away from them. We want to give people back the freedom to pay for gas and buy the food they require for their children, rather than relying on food banks and skipping meals. We want to give people their lives and their freedom back, which would be a huge asset to their mental health. That is why we as Conservatives have been opposing the reckless spending of the Liberal government.
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