(Ottawa) Former federal Minister of Justice David Lametti would not be afraid to immediately expand eligibility for medical assistance in dying to people suffering from mental illness.
Mr. Lametti had a law adopted last winter, at the last minute, in Parliament which postponed for a year the change planned for March 17, 2023.
Access to medical assistance in dying should therefore be extended on March 17 to people “whose only medical problem is a mental illness”.
But the current justice minister, Arif Virani, who succeeded Mr Lametti, and the health minister, Mark Holland, have both said they were awaiting a report from a Commons committee on the issue before to decide whether another delay was necessary in this matter.
Montreal MP Lametti, who announced Thursday his departure from political life after being excluded from cabinet last summer, says the one-year postponement made it possible to do the work necessary to ensure that the provinces and professionals health professionals are ready to manage this change.
Mr. Lametti admits that it is now up to current federal ministers to decide what happens next. But in his opinion, there would be no problem in moving forward with enlargement now.
“It will be a very minimal number of people who will have access to medical assistance in dying in such circumstances,” he explained Thursday evening in an interview with The Canadian Press. So I wouldn’t be afraid to proceed.
“I am quite confident in our doctors, but obviously – this is my personal opinion – I would not like to see people suffer when they have tried everything and nothing works, for years. If they are capable of making that decision, I sincerely believe — this is my personal opinion — that they should have the right to do so at some point. »