Saturday February 1, 2020 ~ NATIONAL [Updated 6:45 pm February 3]
~ West Shore Voice News
Randall Garrison, MP (Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke) met this past week with the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Health around issues of medically-assisted dying.
As the NDP Justice critic, Garrison says: “New Democrats have heard the concerns of many Canadians about unnecessary suffering caused by our current medical assistance in dying legislation and are calling for quick action to address this problem.”
“We have an opportunity in this parliament to alleviate the suffering of Canadians who have been unable to access medical assistance in dying or have had to make the difficult choice to end their lives sooner than they wanted because of the restrictive legislation,” said Garrison.
An online consultation process about Medical Assistance in Dying as conducted this month by the federal government closed on January 27, 2020.
“Medical assistance in dying” currently includes:
- the use of medication by a physician or nurse practitioner to directly cause a person’s death at their request
- the prescription or provision of medication by a physician or nurse practitioner that a person can use to cause their own death
A September 2019 ruling of the Superior Court of Quebec struck down the condition that someone be near death to qualify. The Government of Canada should act quickly to ensure that Canadians’ fundamental rights are protected in medical assistance in dying legislation.
“I am optimistic that the Liberals will work with us to remove the unnecessary barriers that fail to put patients first. We are going to make sure the government makes the right choices when it comes to making the necessary changes to this legislation,” said Garrison, following the meetings.
The NDP say they will continue to advocate for the removal of the requirement that death be imminent in order to access medical assistance in dying and to add provisions to allow some advance requests.
“New Democrats are also committed to making sure other, more complex issues raised in the Quebec court decision are addressed in the upcoming review of legislation,” said Garrison. “These include access for those suffering from mental illness, access for competent minors, and strengthening of safeguards protecting all Canadians from pressure or coercion when it comes to medical assistance in dying.”
Garrison is serving his third term as the Member of Parliament for the Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke riding in the south Vancouver Island area where he was first elected in 2011.
After the October 2019 federal election, Garrison was appointed by NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh to be Justice Critic in this 43rd Parliament, as well as Defence Critic and LGBTQ2+ Critic (two portfolios that he held in the last Parliament). In the last parliament the Justice Critic portfolio was held by then-Victoria-MP Murray Rankin who did not run again in 2019.