Dear Editor
The bottom line is the proposed legislation on medically assisted dying is too restrictive.
It does not comply with the Supreme Court’s decision in Carter v. Canada, and it violates the Charter rights of incurably ill Canadians suffering against their will.
Debate on the legislation has just started in Parliament.
Your MP needs to hear your voice before they vote.
The truth the federal government is denying is that their legislation would exclude entire categories of suffering Canadians who have already fought for and won their right to make their own end of life decisions.
Kay Carter, the woman at the very centre of the BCCLA’s death with dignity case, had spinal stenosis— a disease that was not killing her but left her in prolonged and indefinite suffering. This proposed legislation would bar people like Kay from exercising their right to decide for themselves when they have suffered enough.
The government is trying to erase Kay, and people like her, from the Carter v. Canada victory.
If this bill passes in its current state, it will shift the burden back onto the sick.
Charlotte Kingston
Director of Community Engagement
British Columbia Civil Liberties Association
