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Decentralized Democracy

Senate Volume 153, Issue 181

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 26, 2024 06:00PM
  • Feb/26/24 6:00:00 p.m.

Senator Woo: Yet, Senator Gold, we have said very clearly that we do not make presumptions about the premise of the ICJ’s case, which means we leave open the possibility that a genocide may be found. We have been quick to use the genocide term and declare war crimes in many other instances. Therefore, I ask you this again: What is the government doing to protect Canada and us, as lawmakers, from the possibility of complicity in these crimes against humanity?

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  • Feb/26/24 6:00:00 p.m.

Senator Woo: I won’t put words in your mouth, but irremediability is, of course, at the heart of the legislation, because it is the triggering criteria for MAID of any kind to be offered.

If, in fact, after three years, the practitioners are unable to come to a consensus on what is irremediable in MAID MD‑SUMC, is it not the case, then, that someone seeking MAID MD‑SUMC would simply have to find the right practitioner who is willing to offer it because of a diagnosis of irremediability?

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  • Feb/26/24 6:20:00 p.m.

Hon. Yuen Pau Woo: Senator Gold, it has been a month since the International Court of Justice, or ICJ, asked Israel to ensure that humanitarian relief be provided to Palestinians in Gaza. It has also been about a month since any meaningful amount of relief entered Gaza. Senator Gold, what is Canada doing to ensure that we’re not complicit in any finding of genocide or war crimes that the ICJ and its sister organization, the International Criminal Court, are currently investigating?

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  • Feb/26/24 7:20:00 p.m.

Hon. Yuen Pau Woo: Thank you, Senator Gold, for your exposition. I think you have made a good case for the bill, and I intend to support it. However, I was struck by a comment in the middle of your speech, and I would like to ask you about it.

You referred to the lack of consensus among practitioners around the issue of irremediability and cited that as a reason for the three-year delay. Is it the government’s view that at the end of three years, the psychiatric community will come to a view on irremediability and therefore remove that impediment to the implementation of MAID MD-SUMC?

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