CCBI News – Good Statements—Human Rights Commission; MAiD and MI—Failure of Fundamental Human Rights; Critical Evaluation—Advance Directives; Euthanasia—Minors

March 13, 2023

Dear Friends of CCBI,

Euthanasia for People With Mental Disorders:
“Canada is Failing to Provide Their Fundamental Human Rights.”

The interim chair of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Charlotte-Anne Malischewski, advises the federal government to take a closer look at what has happened since the legalization of euthanasia before extending the procedure for other situations. She wrote to Global News: “In particular, (Parliament) needs to focus on the many worrying accounts of individuals who have accessed or are considering accessing MAiD because Canada is failing to fulfill their fundamental human rights.” (Emphasis added). She noted: “In an era where we recognize the right to die with dignity, we must do more to guarantee the right to live with dignity.” Catholic teaching, of course, does not condone ‘the right to die with dignity’ when euthanasia is meant, but affirms that a natural, peaceful and as pain-free as possible death – its meaning of ‘dignity’ – is a human and spiritual need.

The Human Rights Commission is concerned about Canadians choosing to die by MAiD because they cannot access basic human rights such as safe housing and access to health care and other social services. It is important to remember that the Commission is not against euthanasia in principle but sees society’s failure to address these rights as a major concern, not only for the Human Rights Commission but for Canada as a whole. Our country is ignoring the plight of many of its own citizens in failing to provide basic human rights (I think they are basic human needs and, therefore, rights) to whom we should, in the words of Commissioner Maleschewski, “…guarantee the right to live with dignity.” Live, not help to die.

Advance Directives: Fear of the Unknown?

Commenting on another possibility suggested by the Parliamentary Commission reviewing the 2021 changes to MAiD, that of allowing people to write binding advance directives, Professor Tom Koch says: “I worry that in the push for advance directives, lawmakers and advocates are embracing the fear of a potential future that is impossible to truly understand before it arrives.” Professor Koch related in his research that people who became disabled, rather than having been born that way, had little understanding of living with a disability, but every one of them expressed fear of living with new limitations. Koch writes: “Many had thought of suicide or assisted dying, but after around two years, most found to their surprise that even with extreme limits, life was as fulfilling as that lived in health. Just different.” This type of research is surely invaluable in educating society about living with disability – most likely challenging our perceptions. Society itself tends to perpetuate uneducated perceptions about quality of life, even judging which lives are worth living! In Catholic teaching, of course, every life carries that worth!

While a recent Health Canada report found that requests for MAiD most often refer to a loss of autonomy, Professor Koch research shows “…that cognitive, physical and sensory limits can be surmounted when we accept that total autonomy is a myth.” CCBI frequently states the same about the impossibility of absolute autonomy. We are brought into this world through human cooperation, most often with assistance and care at the time of birth. We receive and give care as natural stages in the human journey from conception until our natural death, buoyed by the fact that “… loved ones are often more than willing to provide” that assistance. This renders euthanasia, or what I call MATD (medical assistance to die) unnecessary, undeserving of the term ‘human right.’

Euthanasia for Minors: Wrong!

The Globe and Mail was supportive of the move to legalize euthanasia in 2016 but recently noted: “…the pendulum is now swinging toward a far more permissive and troubling set of rules.” An editorial dated March 3, 2023, condemns the recent Parliamentary committee’s recommendation that children be allowed to request MAiD without parental consent as “… morally fraught and should not happen.” It is encouraging to see yet again that proponents of the original legislation are opposing some of its newer implications. While The Globe agree with euthanasia in principle, which Catholic teaching emphatically does not, it does strongly disagree with allowing children to die using those procedures.

We should remember that this move is still a recommendation and has not yet been legislated, unlike allowing euthanasia for those with a mental disorder. This means that there is a possibility of preventing this particular recommendation from being legalized, especially if there is a strong campaign to maintain resistance to the moves of the Justice Department and the federal government, The Globe editorial also reflects the position that many have taken regarding euthanasia for those with mental disorders, saying , “A chronic and severe mental illness can be as intolerable and irremediable as any physical one. But unless there can be concrete guidelines for establishing the capacity of a mentally ill person to consent to their death, and for deciding when a mental illness is beyond treatment, Ottawa should not take this next step.” (Emphasis added.)

In this regard, the editorial echoes the interim chair of the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the many voices that want to preserve the dignity of life from conception until natural death, in stating: “Above all, there should be no further expansion of the right to die in Canada until Ottawa and the provinces invest in publicly funded mental-health care, more palliative care beds, more social housing for people with physical and mental disabilities, and easy access to social supports.” CCBI agrees with their push to improve health and social conditions, while continuing to reject all and any euthanasia procedures.

Global News

https://globalnews.ca/news/9505834/maid-canada-assisted-dying-minors-proposal

The Globe and Mail

Opinion: As a gerontologist, I’m deeply worried about advance consent for MAID – The Globe and Mail
Globe editorial: A right to die, but first a better life – The Globe and Mail

Pope Francis’ Intentions for March

For Victims of Abuse
We pray for those who have suffered harm from members of the Church; may they find within the Church herself a concrete response to their pain and suffering. We pray that parishes, placing communion at the centre, may increasingly become communities of faith, fraternity and welcome towards those most in need.

Moira and Bambi