In June, the Liberals’ Bill C-14 on medical assistance in dying received royal assent despite widespread criticism that it was more restrictive than the Supreme Court’s ruling in Carter had said it need be. The saving grace was the government’s promise that it would carry out further study “in the context of mature minors, people for whom mental illness is the sole underlying condition and advance requests” within six months of the bill passing into law.
With the six-month deadline approaching and “planning likely underway” to begin these studies, CBA President René Basque wrote to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and Health Minister Jane Philpott to lay out the CBA’s position on these issues.
At the CBA Legal Conference in Ottawa this past August, Council passed three resolutions proposed by the Association’s End of Life Working Group meant to advance the discussion on medical assistance in dying on the issues the Liberals have promised to revisit.
- Advance requests: Resolution 16-02-A calls for the government to follow the recommendations of the Provincial-Territorial Advisory Group and the Special Joint Committee and amend the Criminal Code to permit advance requests. As well, it says people who discuss advance requests for medical assistance in dying with the person likely to receive that assistance should be exempt from liability. Provincial and territorial governments are likewise asked to amend their laws and to include “measures that adequately safeguard individuals where capacity is an issue, but do not impose under barriers for eligible individuals.”
- Psychiatric conditions: Resolution 16-03-A calls for the federal government to amend the Criminal Code to align with the decision in Carter, including making people with psychiatric conditions eligible to receive medical assistance in dying, and for governments at all levels to ensure people face no additional barriers to that assistance because of their psychiatric conditions. This will likely mean developing better assessment tools for consent and capacity.
- Mature minors: While the law recognizes the right of mature minors to make their own medical decisions, extending that right to medical assistance in dying is a touchy subject. The logic of the Carter decision, however, applies equally to competent and consenting minors. Resolution 16-04-A calls for the government to commission a Child Rights Impact Assessment to undertake consultations and make recommendations for legislation permitting medical assistance in dying for competent minors, along with tools for assessing competence. It also calls for the government to introduce the legislation by June 2017.
Basque also offers the assistance of the Working Group as the government tackles these important questions.