Urgent need to reflect further on human dignity and its impact on our social choices
Montreal, May 28, 2022 – The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Christian Dubé, tabled on May 25 a bill to amend the Act respecting end-of-life care and other legislative provisions.
You can read it here.
In addition to complying with the Federal Bill C-7 (withdrawal of end-of-life criteria) and extending access to medical aid in dying (by advance request) to persons who are incapable, as we had feared, this bill contains a very unpleasant surprise: the obligation for hospices to offer medical aid in dying, unless there is an exception - an item that was unfortunately not part of the press release (available in French only), and only briefly mentioned during the Minister's press conference.
We opposed all of these measures in our August 2021 brief to the Quebec Select Committee. We will actively participate in the upcoming consultations. We are particularly distressed to see that the Quebec government is giving in to the demands of the most militant groups and individuals in favour of an all-out expansion of MAiD by lifting the clause for conscience protection that hospice care teams have benefited from since the adoption of the provincial law in 2015. Of the 37 hospices in Quebec, 16 still refuse to offer medical aid in dying under their roof. Do we really want to impose on 43% of hospices a gesture that is in flagrant contradiction with the principles of their team members?
We urge the members of the Quebec National Assembly to refuse to adopt such a major bill in three short weeks. Whether one agrees or not with the provisions of the legislative project, it concerns very serious ethical issues. There is no justification for such a rush.
Media contact:
Jasmin Lemieux-Lefebvre
Coordinator
Living with Dignity
directionVDD@gmail.com
I am at a loss as to how the phrase, Living With Dignity, can be a legitimate truth when this group accepts that the Dignity of the human person to live is to be undermined. It is oxymoronic. What is the voice of Canadians on this? It is clear from the fact that GoFundMe pages are being set up to provide the means to support human life in a truly dignified and accommodated way shows that a significant number of Canadians are not happy with how members of Parliament are being lobbied by those projecting a personal death wish on the whole population, as if to say some people are inferior and don't deserve to live. The presence and expansion of these laws is perhaps motivating truly compassionate Canadians to resist the lies being sold to the public that complacently sells fellow citizens down the river into a type of death-slavery where those who are able are controlling the disabled. That purs a bad rap on the all of Canada as a country and the legitimacy of it's people.
ReplyDeleteI am encouraged in a neighboring article how some Canadians are setting up GoFundMe pages to help the compromised to live in a dignified manner, in spite of being pushed to the indignity of agreeing to be killed. If anyone is acting with dignity, it is those who are choosing to help people to live. Dignity is about how people live, not by making imposing covert violence upon those whose lives are difficult at best. How did Partiament get so primitive and animalistic that human lives are so serendipitously regarded. The only other species that so does that to its kind is rats. All others are in some way more supportive.
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