Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Petition: Reject euthanasia Bill C-7 (Link).
On February 24, Canada's federal government introduced Bill C-7, an act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying). Bill C-7 is the federal government's response to the Quebec Court decision that struck down the section of Canada's euthanasia law that requiring that "natural death be reasonably foreseeable" before qualifying for death by euthanasia (lethal injection).
I reported that the Quebec court expanded Canada's euthanasia law by eliminating the requirement that only terminally ill people could be killed by lethal injection.
The court decision expanded euthanasia to people with psychological conditions. Canada's euthanasia law states that a person qualifies for euthanasia if:
the illness, disease or disability or that state of decline causes them enduring physical or psychological suffering that is intolerable to them and that cannot be relieved under conditions that they consider acceptable.Before the Quebec court decision, a person didn't qualify for euthanasia based on psychological reasons alone since the law required that a person's "natural death be reasonably foreseeable." Since the Quebec court struck down this requirement, the law now permits euthanasia for psychological reasons.
Bill C-7 pretends to prevent euthanasia for "mental illness". Section (2.1) states:
For the purposes of paragraph (2)(a), a mental illness is not considered to be an illness, disease or disability.
This paragraph does not prevent euthanasia for mental illness or psychological reasons since the law specifically allows it. To prevent euthanasia for "mental illness" they would have had to define "mental illness" and they would have had to amend the requirements of the current law.
Bill C-7 creates a two track law where a person who is not terminally ill has a 90 day waiting period while Bill C-7 waves the 10 day waiting period for people who are terminally ill. Therefore a person can request and then die by lethal injection on the same day.
The government is wrong to create a two tier euthanasia law. A future court decision will likely strike down the 90 day waiting period for people who are not terminally ill because this provision represents an inequality within the law.
The government is wrong to create a two tier euthanasia law. A future court decision will likely strike down the 90 day waiting period for people who are not terminally ill because this provision represents an inequality within the law.
Bill C-7 allows a person's healthcare provider or care provider to be one of the witnesses. This is a conflict of interest.
Finally, Bill C-7 allows doctors and nurse practitioners to lethally inject an incompetent person, (advanced request) so long as that person consented to death by lethal injection before becoming incompetent.
This amendment to the law contravenes the Carter decision which required that a person be capable of consenting to die.
Finally, Bill C-7 allows doctors and nurse practitioners to lethally inject an incompetent person, (advanced request) so long as that person consented to death by lethal injection before becoming incompetent.
This amendment to the law contravenes the Carter decision which required that a person be capable of consenting to die.
The goal of the euthanasia lobby was to amend the law to allow "advanced consent" for euthanasia. Canada's Liberal government appears to be working closely with the euthanasia lobby.
By eliminating the 10 day waiting period, a terminally ill person can request euthanasia and die by euthanasia on the same day. Studies show that the "Will to Live" fluctuates over time.
The government should wait before amending the law. In June 2020, the government will begin its consultation on 5 years of euthanasia in Canada.
14 comments:
What have we become? We have become immoral, insensitive and barbaric in nature. The Trudeau government is a disgrace and our dictators, who control the will of the people and have taken our free speech. Trudeau has made himself a God, deciding who lives and who dies. He has committed such atrocities and has destroyed a Country that was founded on Christian, MORALS, ETHIC AND PRINCIPALS, something he lacks. God gives life and he takes life when are time is up. May God have mercy on his soul. He will be responsible for many deaths and the deaths of the unborn and born. It sickens me that we have such a inhumane PM.
I agree with everything that Darl mentioned in his/her blog comment; yet there is something I feel I must add. We can't simply blame our Prime Minister for this; we have to ask ourselves what we can do. Everyone who calls themselves Christian (all faith persuasions) need to stand up and be counted. This is something that should be screamed about from the pulpit, and in every home, yet too many remain silent, not wanting to get involved. That is why we are in this mess. We as a people who love our freedom and trust in the Almighty God and not the 'almighty dollar' need to take a stand. We cannot claim "too busy" as our excuse. The lives of many vulnerable persons depend on how we respond to the powers that control our lives and the lives of millions who have no voice. We need to 'love our neighbor' who is ill, not get rid of them because they are costing our health care system too much. The government could save a great deal of money being spent on health care if they just refused to finance death, like abortion and euthanasia. Hitler wanted to exterminate the jews in WWII. The world reacted, and he and his followers were defeated. Christians can do the same. We can defeat this evil, but we have to stick together to do it.
I agree with Darl and Anonymous. Let us pray fervently for our government rather than just criticize them. And let us do our part in being the solution rather than part of the problem by being silent. We can support groups that work to try to change the minds of government leaders. Let us ask our pastors to make this a topic for prayer and preaching in our churches. And let's be there for our neighbors who need help when they are ill - whether physical, emotional or spiritual. May the Lord help us all to do our part. M
I have written before, and I utilize this opportunity to restate that legalizing Euthanasia in any situation, even with consent, all the more so without consent, even if death is imminent, even more so when imminent death is not the issue, is nothing less than downright MURDER. If someone hands you a gun and asks you "Please shoot me", this does not constitute the green light to Kill that person. Euthanasia is the exact same thing.
Martin H. Hoffman
Toronto, ON.
It does look very much as though the country's laws are devolving into deeper levels of relativism as time goes on. You can tell how advanced a society is by how it treats its weakest members. We are going backwards.
Archaeological evidence shows that as humans evolved the more sophisticated modes of social organization that enabled the modern world to develop, they began to take greater interest in looking after their more vulnerable members. Apparently that trend is now reversing.
What we are witnessing today is a bit like an eclipse. The internal logic of our civilization's cocktail of consumerism, capitalism and hyper-individualism gradually crowds out other considerations. Sick people cost the system money, so the system wants them to die. But to mask the distasteful truth, the system tells itself that MAiD is a "service" to which all are "entitled".
I agree with Darl snd Anon. except that we should observe that court Judges are now our unelected dictators. Thanks to a flawed Charter of Rights and Freedoms and a disregard for the "Supremacy of God", which even the Charter states is a foundation of Canada. Judges only regard the "rule of law" as supreme and foundational. Our PM et al capitulate to Judges....the feds had to request an extension to the deadline. The only option our elected MPs have to stop an immoral Charter judgement is the "notwithstanding" clause. But why don't they use it? They fear that it is unprecedented and politically incorrect...and the Charter requires it be renewed every 5 y.
The Charter allowed Canadian abortion laws to fall and assisted suicide laws to fall. I believe that neither of these would have fallen if it had been up to our elected MPs.
I fear that assisted suicide may become as unregulated as abortion in Canada because of the way the Charter is written.
It will take a huge political will to change the Charter to ensure legalistic arguments don't override moral arguments and endanger more vulnerable Canadians.
What is it going to take, I wonder?
It's part of human nature to see both sides when we're trying to make a decision but our emotions actually drive our actions.
It's also part of human nature that those emotions may be buried in our subconscious where we are unaware of what is behind our actions: we justify meanings and decisions because something in the background carries more fear, dread, anger, or anxiety, for example, than we are currently prepared to face.
Sometimes we need guardrails to channel our choices in healthy ways beyond the range of our "spur of the moment" decisions, our day-to-day pain and struggles and our fears, or our wants.
For example when I'm making a decision to purchase something I like to think on it overnight if it's over $50. Very often I change my mind and do not bother to go back to make the purchase.
I like to make decisions slowly about major relationships because it involves trust and not everyone is as trustworthy as they present themselves to be or even as they believe themselves to be.
Sometimes I am not as trustworthy and ready for a relationship as I think I am either. So in either case, it's beneficial if I let time be the guardrail.
Sometimes in going to post-secondary school, I changed my mind. I enrolled in courses that cost me money and then I removed myself from those courses because I found something I preferred greatly over those. It cost me money but the U-turn was well worth it. Changing our mind after comparing things can be an important guardrail for achieving happiness.
As a child I was suicidal. Fortunately I did not have options that would have made those impulses become realities. A lack of availability to access those options was a pivotal guardrail to my present existence and my present happiness.
Also in the past, as a youth, I had difficult circumstances and I struggled. There were decisions I could have made if it had been very easy to, that would have in effect destroyed hope for a happy future life. Thankfully those options were out of my range and I decided to not quit school, move out or run away from home or take drugs or give up on my challenges. Instead I surmounted them (waited with a better focus as as goal, graduated, moved out, got a job, went to college, and I grew!)
That is what challenges do when we allow them to. The inability to make the "easier quick fix" choices is a good thing usually. Struggle is not always a bad thing. It is not the enemy. In fact it's a necessary and healthy part of life.
Some (if not every one) of the finest people I have ever known or admired got that way by facing instead of running from the path of challenges, obstacles, and pain.
Overcoming challenges is where we get patience, strong muscles, good relationships, new innovations, and character.
Each of us has a song to sing, a contribution to make. Stay. Do *you*, like no one else can!
When what has been created in God's image is violated, His wrath will be the consequences, sooner or later.
And who will decide what the definition of "incompetent" is and qualifies to be murdered?
Those who condone this bill share the same mindset of those in Hitler's Germany which led to the extermination of those they regarded as unworthy of life.
Over the History of the world we have so many negative examples of dictators and philosophers with NO MORAL who killed their own people left and right. One recent example is China with the "coronavirus". Killing or letting the people to die is the same.
Now the so called "modern society" is not that modern. The Greeks before Christianity, the Romans, the American, the Germans, Arabs/Muslims etc. killed their off springs because they did not like them, mostly against the will of the parents, and they called it with all kind of sophisticated names: euthanasia, mercy help,honor ... but the bottom line and the true description is: MURDER =KILLING. "You should/must NOT kill" (The Book of the books)
As a handicapped person, I am very afraid of where this all heading. More and more it is becoming popular to think that people with very difficult lives are not fully human and therefore do not need to have their human rights recognized. When the elderly and the disabled are regarded as too much of a burden for families and societies, then it can become common for well-meaning people to start seeing suicide as a good option.
Normally medical professionals think that suicidal feelings are a problem to be treated, not a request to be granted. Doctors swear to do no harm, and there is nothing more harmful than killing. However there is a philosophy taking root in our society that regards personal freedom as the greatest good, no matter what the consequences. We see this in the abortion debate where people call themselves pro-choice because they think that any choice people make is a good choice. But we know that not every choice people make is a good choice. We are obligated to help people who make evil choices. While personal freedom is important; not everything we can do with our freedom is the right thing to do.
THOU SHALT NOT KILL..ABORTION AND EUTHANASIA ARE MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE..THE PM AND HIS INSANE REGIME HAVE BECOME JUDGE, JURY AND EXECUTIONER..AND WE AS CANADIANS HAVE JUST STOOD BY AND LET IT HAPPEN..HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE MARCHED IN A FOR LIFE PARADE..HOW MANY HAVE SIGNED PETITIONS..GOD HAVE MERCY ON OUR SOULS..GOD HAVE MERCY ON CANADA.GOD HAVE MERCY ON THIS INSANE PM..
THIS NAZISM ALL OVER AGAIN..
This story bothers me. Regardless of all arguments, there may be room for euthanasia in its smallest form, however, it is the reasonable expectation of all Canadians that its use shall be the complete decision of the person requesting it. That person must be under terrible circumstances with death the only outcome. I am reminded of a friend who had Lou Gehrig's disease. He was at a state where he could not breath on his own and only close and open an eye to communicate, just a terrible situation to be in. A case like that could be an excuse for desiring early death. The main thing to worry about is in weakening the law, someone other than the person themselves, may be in position to order euthanasia. That should never be allowed to happen. I urge those opposing these changes to continue working on this situation.
GOD decides who lives and who dies-and-when. No person or government has the right to make the decision for anyone.
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