Tuesday May 18, 2021 | COWICHAN-MALAHAT-LANGFORD
by Mary P Brooke, Editor | Island Social Trends
The Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (AMAD) now sees Vancouver Island MP Alistair MacGregor (Cowichan-Malahat-Langford) serving as third vice-president.
The first AMAD committee meeting was held yesterday, getting underway with its work to review provisions of the Criminal Code that relate to medical assistance in dying (MAID) and their application. That includes looking at issues relating to mature minors, advance requests, mental illness, the state of palliative care in Canada, and the protection of Canadians with disabilities.
AMAD is required by law as part of the Senate’s amendments to the recently passed Bill C-7. It will be a multi-party assembly of House and Senate members.
The mandate is to study for possible further legislative and policy changes in the future. The AMAD committee will consist of five Senate members and 10 House of Commons members (i.e. MPs).
The committee chair is Liberal MP Hedy Fry. MacGregor is the only NDP member on the 10-person committee. The other eight committee members represent the Liberal Party (four members), the Conservative Party (three members), and the Bloc Quebecois (one member).
Under Bill C-7, AMAD is required to submit its findings in a report to Parliament within one year of commencing its work.
Core of who we want to be:
MacGregor says he will “take with great honour and responsibility” the role of third vice-chair. “The issues surrounding MAID legislation strike at the very core of who we want to be as a country,” he said in a release today.
“I look forward to working with my House and Senate colleagues to ensure that we support the rights of Canadians to medically-assisted death, while safeguarding protections for our most vulnerable,” MacGregor said today.
Expert & technical input:
By law, AMAD will have the power to retain the services of expert, professional, technical, and clerical staff and make occasional reports to both the public and Parliament.
