(Quebec) The government of François Legault will authorize advance requests for medical assistance in dying (MAID) starting this fall, even if Ottawa does not amend its Criminal Code as Quebec is requesting.
“We will be ready, we will move forward. What we want is that [le fédéral] changes its Criminal Code, but if it doesn’t change it, we are working on our options in parallel,” said Léa Fortin, press attaché for the Minister of Seniors, Sonia Bélanger, to The Canadian Press.
The new version of Quebec’s MAiD law was adopted on June 7, 2023, and will allow advance requests for people with a serious and incurable illness, such as Alzheimer’s. However, this provision is not yet in force.
In fact, last February, Quebec ministers called on Ottawa to amend the Criminal Code to prevent health professionals who administer MAiD as part of an advance request from committing a criminal offence.
“No opening was offered”
Until now, Quebec’s request has remained a dead letter at the federal level, says Sonia Bélanger’s office. “After the multiple approaches that were made, [le fédéral] “The question remains ‘no’,” says Léa Fortin.
In a letter from ministers Sonia Bélanger and Jean-François Roberge dated June 21, 2024 and sent to federal Health Minister Mark Holland – a copy of which was obtained by The Canadian Press – the Quebec elected officials wrote: “Several discussions on this subject took place this spring between our governments, in particular with your colleague from Justice, so that your government would demonstrate flexibility and openness and recognize that Quebecers can make advance requests for medical assistance in dying in accordance with the provisions of the Act respecting end-of-life care. Several avenues of passage were proposed, unfortunately, no opening was offered in this regard.”
“It’s a consensus in Quebec. It’s a cross-party approach, users, parliamentarians, professionals; everyone agrees to move forward with MAiD,” says Léa Fortin. Announcements on the subject are planned for this fall.
Asked where the discussions with Quebec are stalling, the office of federal Health Minister Mark Holland avoided answering questions from The Canadian Press, preferring to send a terse response. “We continue to work with Quebec on this issue. Minister Holland engages regularly with his counterparts,” the minister’s communications director, Alexandra Maheux, said in an email.
Quebec can move forward
Constitutionalist and law professor at Laval University Patrick Taillon believes that Quebec can move forward without Ottawa.
“Who files the charges? It’s the Quebec state. And if the Quebec state says, through a directive, […] “When it respects our laws, we never file charges, well there will be no problem,” he explains.
The constitutionalist states that “Ottawa could not prosecute Quebec doctors” who administer MAiD as part of an advance request.
Last April, Québec solidaire asked the Legault government not to wait for Ottawa. In a letter, Solidaire MNAs Ruba Ghazal and Christine Labrie stated that Québec could move forward as it did with the first version of the MAiD law adopted in 2015.