Parliament nears a final decision on legalizing physician-assisted suicide through Bill C-14. The bill has evolved since its original draft and there is evidence that the Justice and Human Right Committee, after several days of listening to witnesses and analyzing proposed amendments, has made some small steps towards mitigating some of the harm in this bill.
Pieter Harsevoort, Along with James Schutten and Andre Schutten Presenting to the Justice Committee
ARPA Canada was one of the very few witnesses privileged to present to the Justice and Human Rights Committee on May 3. André Schutten, legal counsel for ARPA, alongside with two men who suffer from spinal muscular atrophy, James Schutten and Pieter Harsevoort, spoke to the committee about their concerns with the proposed bill. After delivering individual speeches, and answering some questions prompted by the attending MPs, the meeting concluded with an air of uncertainty as to whether the presentation would have a lasting impact on the attending members.
Between May 9 and May 11, the multi-partisan Justice and Human Rights Committee analyzed, debated and voted on approximately 100 proposed amendments, with over half of them coming from the Conservatives. As a result, only 16 amendments were passed, creating some minor changes to Bill C-14. In particular, much of the changes were related to clarifying the intent of the bill and ensuring that its contents cannot be interpreted contrary to the framer’s intent or the intent set out in the Carter decision.
