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Take Action: Euthanasia Bill C-7

On Monday, February 24th, the federal government introduced new legislation, Bill C-7, that would expand Canada’s euthanasia law and make it the most permissive in the world.

As reported by the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, this bill would eliminate the requirement that a person must have a terminal illness to qualify for euthanasia and assisted suicide.

This means that people with chronic illness and disability would now be eligible for euthanasia in Canada. Over this past year, we have been running local ads that ask, “Why assisted suicide for some, and suicide prevention for others?” We should be asking the same question about this bill.

If someone expresses a desire to end their life, we should respond with care and support, and ask what they are struggling with that makes them feel this way. We should provide them with suicide prevention resources, because their life is valuable. Why would our response be different just because a person has a disability or chronic illness?

Image of ad: 'Why Assisted Suicide for Some, and Suicide Prevention for Others?"
One of our pro-life ads currently running on Guelph Transit buses.

The bill would also endanger vulnerable people by permitting advance requests. Currently, doctors will ask a person if they still consent to the euthanasia just before the lethal injection is administered. This new bill would allow people to consent ahead of time, and eliminate the requirement to ask them just before being euthanized. As the EPC explains,

“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.”
 
This means that a person might sign an advance request for euthanasia and then develop dementia at a later time. Then, when they no longer have the capacity to consent, a doctor could still euthanize them, not knowing if they truly consent at that moment.
 
A person may look ahead and, fearing the future, say that they want to be euthanized in certain circumstances. But how can any of us know how we will truly feel when facing unknown future circumstances?
 
It would be gravely irresponsible for the government to move ahead with this bill, since vulnerable people with no capacity to consent would be killed, with no way for doctors to know if they were doing so against the patient’s will.
 
Take Action: Email or write to your local MP to urge them to speak up against this bill in Parliament.
 
In Guelph, your MP is Lloyd Longfield.
E-mail: lloyd.longfield@parl.gc.ca
 
Mail can be sent to his Guelph office:
Lloyd Longfield
111 Farquhar Street
Unit 103
Guelph, ON
N1H 3N4
 
Or, send mail to his Ottawa office, postage-free:
Lloyd Longfield
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6
 
In Wellington-Halton Hills, your MP is Michael Chong.
 
Mail can be sent to his Fergus office:
Michael Chong
A-190 St. David Street South
Fergus, ON
N1M2L3
 
Or, send mail to his Ottawa office, postage-free:
Michael Chong
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6

You can watch video of part of this week’s debate on this bill:

Part two of debate in the house begins approximately 9 minutes into this video:

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