Feb 24 Open Letter — Vulnerable Persons Standard

Dear Members of Parliament,

We, the undersigned member organizations and allies of the disability rights community, ask the Government of Canada to stop and rethink the radical and highly divisive changes proposed for Canada's medical assistance in dying regime in Bill C-7. Bill C-7 sets apart people with disabilities and disabling conditions as the only Canadians to be offered assistance in dying when they are not actually nearing death. This core feature of the Bill is not widely understood, even among Canadian parliamentarians, with the result that many may find themselves supporting a Bill without grappling with its implications.

As it stands, Bill C-7 is dangerous and discriminatory. Three United Nations experts have warned that Bill C-7 will violate international human rights conventions to which Canada is a signatory. Canadian legal experts warn that Bill C-7 will violate the Charter rights of persons with disabilities. People with disabilities, including in particular those who are marginalized, Black, Indigenous, racialized and poor, have warned that Bill C-7 will undermine their dignity and put their very lives at risk.

Canadians with disabilities are hearing MPs and Senators arguing that lives just like theirs featuring disabilities just like theirs are not livable. This is harmful and hurtful and stigmatizing.

Parliamentarians have a responsibility to think through the unintended but entirely foreseeable consequences of new legislation, recognizing that people with disabilities face overwhelming barriers to disability support services, mental health care, housing, income security and other means and measures essential to a dignified life. The reality is that for many people with disabilities, dehumanizing long term care homes are the only option. And now MAiD?

It is time for our lawmakers to grapple honestly with ableism and refrain from empty gestures of concern when Canadians with disabilities speak up in desperation. It is long past time for a courageous and comprehensive response to the many ways in which people with disabling conditions are made to suffer unbearable lives. Expanding the availability of medically assisted death for this social group, and only this social group, is not a good faith response to the Québec Superior Court's decision in Truchon. To quote minister Lametti, letting the Truchon deadline lapse may temporarily permit some uncertainty in how the Criminal Code is applied in Québec with respect to medical assistance in dying. While this is, as he acknowledged, "a matter of general concern", it is a matter of far greater concern to pass into law an amendment that authorizes physicians to end the lives of patients who have been denied every opportunity to live decent and dignified lives.

Take your time, start over, and get this right. As you do so, be careful to heed the advice of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: "Listen closely to the most directly affected. Their antenna is highly attuned to ableism. When they see it, you should pause and reflect before proceeding".