Pro-hikers see a hasty assessment as part of the slippery slope of euthanasia – The BC Catholic – magviral

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Opponents of assisted suicide call on Canadians to participate in the bi-weekly consultation of the federal government on the expansion of euthanasia, while a prominent B.C. pro-life voice says the assessment is being rushed unnecessarily.

The public consultation was launched by the government on January 13 and is mainly conducted through an online public survey at Justice.gc.ca/eng/cons/ad-am. Canadians can give their opinion by the end of day 27 January on the laws applicable to state sanctioned suicide.

But that deadline is too short for such an important consultation, said John Hof, former president of United for Life B.C.

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I see no reason to speed up this process, he told The B.C. Catholic. Decisions of this government will be part of our legislation for a long time, and that is why we must take all the time to ensure that we do not do it wrong.

Court and other pro-life voices urge Canadians to participate in the consultation, saying that any movement to expand euthanasia is evidence of the slippery slope they have long predicted.

After receiving countless guarantees during the discussion about assisted suicide legislation that access would not be extended, we now see immediate challenges for that legislation.

The rush to make changes to assisted death legislation in Canada is a response to a decision by the Quebec court in September 2019 that sets the criteria for reasonable foreseeability of natural death in federal law and the end criteria of life in the provincial province of Quebec. Medical Death Assistance Act (MAID) was unconstitutional because those rules are too restrictive.

The ruling of the Court will take effect on March 11, 2020, unless an extension is granted by the Court. Although this ruling only applies to the province of Quebec, the Canadian government accepted the ruling and promised MEID law for the entire country, said a federal justice statement.

When the federal government first introduced regulations regarding death assistance in 2016, after five years, Ottawa promised a larger revision of the MAID system, focusing on three complex issues, including applications for MAID by adult minors, advance requests and requests for people where mental illness is the only reason to apply for MAID.

The Department of Justice said that updating Canadas MAID legislation will extend the suitability for MAID beyond people approaching the end of their lives and may lead to other changes once the assessment is complete.

Federal Minister for Justice David Lametti, who voted against the original MAID regulations of his own government because he thought these were too restrictive a point that the decision of the Quebec court agreed with said in a statement that he understands medical death assistance is a very complex and personal issue for many Canadians.

Thanks to the consultations we are starting today, we can hear directly from Canadians and the way forward, said Lametti.

Court said that warnings about an inevitable extension of assisted suicide were clearly not followed. The vulnerable and helpless people in our country run a greater risk of being bullied to death with the expansion of MAID. A society that abandons their most dependent citizens late is a road to self-destruction.

Court said that parish-based responses are scheduled in the next two weeks to encourage parishioners to answer the survey after Mass.

What are we going to allow? Said Alex Schadenberg, the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, and adds that his organization is concerned that minors and people with intellectual disabilities will ultimately be eligible for assisted death, as has happened in other jurisdictions where legally sanctioned suicide is permitted.

Opponents of assisted suicide, such as churches and pro-life groups, claim that much more support is needed for palliative care and hospice options to help people at the end of life without committing suicide as a way of their natural death to speed up.

Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition said that Canadian hospices are concerned that end-of-life care will become entangled in the MAID debate.

In Ladner, the Delta Hospice Society is under pressure from the Fraser Health Authority to offer assisted suicide to its patients, as opposed to the constitution of society.

The Canadian Association for Hospice Palliative Care and the Canadian Association for Palliative Care Doctors have recently made a statement in which organizations for palliative care in hospices have agreed that assisted suicide is not part of hospice and palliative care.

Court said the urge to expand suicide assistance demonstrates the wisdom of the saying hard cases make bad legislation.

Exceptional cases such as those in Quebec will lead to an MAID open door policy being available to anyone who asks for it, and even those who do not, but are taken into account by others without prior permission, Court said.

With files from Canadian Catholic News

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Pro-hikers see a hasty assessment as part of the slippery slope of euthanasia - The BC Catholic - magviral