Sunday, November 15, 2020

Dr. Catherine Frazee – Justice Committee Parliamentary Hearing - Bill C-7 begs the question, why people with disabilities?

Catherine Frazee, Professor Emerita, Ryerson University School of Disability Studies.

I speak today from the Mi'kma'ki the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq people. I am a settler here bound by treaties of peace and friendship, and mindful that we are, all of us, treaty people.

Madame Chair, I am sorry for any discomfort that my words may trigger. But with so little time I must speak frankly and without reserve.

Bill C-7 begs the question, why us, why only us? Why only people whose bodies are altered, or painful, or in decline? 

Why not everyone who lives outside the margins of a decent life?

Everyone who resorts to an overdose, a high bridge, a shot gun carried out into the woods?

Why not everyone who decides that their quality of life is in the ditch?

Surely the answer rises up in all of our throats. That's not who we are!

We dial 911. We pull you back from the ledge. And yes, we restrain you in your moment of crisis, autonomy be damned.

We will get to the heart of the problem that drove you out into the woods. And we will beckon you back toward a life that is bearable, unless your suffering is medical or disability-related.

Then and only then there will be a special pathway to assisted death.

Universality is the bedrock of our healthcare commitments.

Why then does Bill C-7 depart so radically, dropping the threshold for MAiD for one social group to bear the trauma of suicide at catastrophic rates, but not for others who suffer and die before their time.

What is it about disability that makes this okay?

Why such breathless confidence that Bill C-7 will bring no harm to disability communities?

Honestly, I do not know.

But as we marshal our evidence for the legal challenges that will follow if this Bill is passed, this is what we hear in reply.

Some say that the suffering of a disabling medical condition is unlike other suffering, somehow more cruel than the overwhelming pain of any healthy, non-disabled person who turns to premature death by suicide. But there is no evidence to support this.

Some say that the suffering of disability defies all hope, as it did, they claim for Jean Truchon. But the deprivations of institutional life that choked out his will to live were not an inevitable consequence of disability. Did we learn nothing from Archie Rolland's harrowing struggle and his final cri de coeur before assisted death? "It's not the ALS that's killing me," he said.

Some say that the suffering of disabling conditions falls in the domain of medicine. But the agonizing quest of Sean Tagert teaches us otherwise. Let's not forget, he called the bureaucratic denials of needed care a death sentence, just days before his assisted death.

Some will fall back on the mantra of choice. They say that not everyone wants to live that way. But not everyone wants to live with the indignities of poverty, either. No one wants to live under threat of racial, or gendered, or colonial violence. No one wants to live hungry, incarcerated, abject, or alone.

Madame Chair, will our lawmakers carve out other shortcuts to assisted death for those who do live in such conditions? Or will you rise to the defence of human rights?

If the latter, I respectfully urge that you start with us, for our equality is, right now, on the line.

Thank you.

5 comments:

Kate said...

Dr. Frazee,

Many heartfelt thanks with aa huge hug to you, for your profoundly soul-touching speech favoring the protection of human rights and genuine dignity for disabled people, opposing the despicable notion that disability means uselessness and purposelessness, and in hideously convoluted manner, also means that we disabled persons prefer death over disability and all of its personal ramifications peculiar to us as individuals.

Your simply profound and pointed questions must be heard and spread beyond your borders- to ALL the world- and HEEDED! We are not without purpose, without usefulness, without desire to live and to love, and so on. The value of our existence is on EQUAL footing with EVERY PERSON on this planet and we demand the respect and equal human rights and protections due to each of us, which are granted by our Creator, not any earthly government!

Thank you, Dr. Frazee, for speaking out on this most important issue. May God bless and protect you always!

With Deepest Respect & Appreciation,

Mrs. Kate Driver
An Ally from the United States of America

Anonymous said...

Please listen to this lady.

Janice said...

Why people with disabilities? Because the government does not want to be paying for them. Because they meet the eugenic criteria of inferior, unusable humans. Because they want them to give up on life. Because they want to make them disposable.
The Build Back Better agenda is targeting the vulnerable to fulfill their prescribed 'future society'.

Anonymous said...

Very well said!

Marlyen said...

How can our Canadian government be debating this despicable act of violence against society.We are in a pandemic where a virus comes in and steals are love ones away and we are all warned to wear our mask to protect lives how about standing up and being counted politicians.When did suicide become a solution for those who are sick physically, mentally or disabled in some way.What kind if society kills it weak and vulnerable and calls that progress and yes if you assist in a death it is killing and sad to say we have to be mad to consider it .a solution .You are valuable and you are made in the image of God and He loves you and if you leave before your time you will be so missed because you made the world a better place by being here and the sun will shine tomorrow and if it rains that is okay to because you don’t want to miss a moment of life .Life is a gift,everybody’s life is gift let’s fight for ways to preserve life not fight for ways to destroy it .Jesus is the answer for all of us He is your Saviour and the best friend you will ever have invite Him into your life give Him a chance He said call upon me and I will answer and He will change your eternity’s .You will spend eternity somewhere choose heaven choose Jesus invite Him in and give Him a chance He has been waiting for you He has been there all the time .Choose life choose Jesus thank you 🙏🏼