A bill on doctor-assisted suicide was given second reading in the Senate Thursday, a few days after Conservative Sen. Nancy Ruth and Liberal Sen. Larry Campbell announced in Ottawa that they would take the issue to the Red Chamber.
“What the bill does is it gives Canadians an option,” Ruth told the Times Colonist on Thursday. “Nobody has to take it and no doctor has to do it, but [the bill] gives the legal framework to make it possible for Canadians who want to consider [doctor-assisted suicide], without having to fly to Switzerland or Washington state or Oregon.”
The move was supported by Manitoba Conservative MP Steven Fletcher, who has been unsuccessful in forcing a debate around assisted suicide in the House of Commons. He tabled a private member’s bill in March, but he is near the bottom of the order of precedence.
“By introducing it into the Senate, not only does it increase the profile of the issue, but also the timing is such that hopefully people around Christmas will talk about end-of-life issues with their families and loved ones and friends,” Fletcher said in an interview.
The bill would impose strict guidelines on how someone could request doctor-assisted suicide. Among other safeguards, the person must be of competent and sound mind. There would be a 14-day waiting period between a request being made and a doctor carrying it out.
The Supreme Court of Canada is considering the constitutionality of the existing Criminal Code ban on assisted suicide.
In October, an Ipsos Reid survey commissioned by Dying with Dignity Canada found that among 2,500 Canadians, 84 per cent supported assisted dying if strong safeguards were in place.
