Speak Out for the Vulnerable
The Senate has amended Bill C-7 to allow euthanasia for those living with mental illness and to allow people to make advance requests prior to illness that would take effect if their mental capacity is lost. The bill already removes the “reasonably foreseeable death” clause, allowing people with non-terminal illnesses to qualify for euthanasia. Disability activists are speaking out fiercely against these changes because it legitimizes the idea that their lives are not worth living.
Sign up below to tell your MP that you want them to vote against these amendments.
Speak Out for the Vulnerable
The Senate has amended Bill C-7 to allow euthanasia for those living with mental illness and to allow people to make advance requests prior to illness that would take effect if their mental capacity is lost. The bill already removes the “reasonably foreseeable death” clause, allowing people with non-terminal illnesses to qualify for euthanasia. Disability activists are speaking out fiercely against these changes because it legitimizes the idea that their lives are not worth living.
Sign up below to tell your MP that you want them to vote against these amendments.
Call for Conscience Campaign
With the passing of euthanasia/assisted suicide legislation in Parliament in 2016, provinces are now implementing what is called “Medical Assistance in Dying” (MAID). In Ontario and Nova Scotia, doctors are forced by their regulatory College to refer against their deeply held moral convictions, and in some provinces there is pressure on faith-based institutions to allow MAID on the premises. We have already been successful in seeing conscience protection legislation passed in Manitoba and are now working to see a similar bill passed in Saskatchewan. Write a letter to your provincial legislator using the links below.
The Issue
As of June 17, 2016, it is now legal for patients to request physician-assisted suicide in Canada. Despite limited conscience protection in federal legislation (Bill C-14) and freedom of conscience enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms, there are still provinces where conscience rights are at risk.
In Ontario, for example, the College and Physicians and Surgeons (CPSO) has abandoned thousands of doctors who cannot provide referrals for medical assistance in dying.
In Manitoba, the government has passed Bill 34, a legislation that protects doctors, nurses and pharmacists from having to perform or aid in the provision of assisted suicide against their conscience. This bill passed with support from all parties after Manitoba legislators received over 14,000 letters through our Call for Conscience campaign.
Each provincial government needs to be encouraged to create legislation that ensures that doctors, nurses and pharmacists have their conscience rights protected.
While health care workers respect the decisions of patients, they entered into medicine to save lives, not end them.
Support Conscience Rights
Let the government know you support our proposal to protect conscience rights.
Protecting Conscience Rights
The Coalition for HealthCARE and Conscience represents a group of like-minded organizations that are committed to protecting conscience rights for healthcare practitioners and facilities.
In the News
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Canadian court tells doctors they must refer for euthanasia
For years bioethicists of a utilitarian cast have argued that conscientious objection has no place...
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