People suffering from Alzheimer’s have a right of access to medical assistance in dying. However, this right is denied to them in Bill C-62 currently before the Senate; the exercise of this right is hypothetically postponed in three years, i.e. until March 17, 2027.
This is not the first time that the government has postponed the exercise of the rights recognized by the Supreme Court in the Carter decision rendered in 2015. It is a denial of the contrary person’s right to dignity and security. in section 7 of the Canadian Charter.
None of the arguments put forward to suspend the recognition of the rights of people suffering from Alzheimer’s by means of an advance declaration stand up to analysis of the criteria defined by the Court almost nine years ago.
This is an intolerable inhumane situation that must be corrected now. And there is a quick and effective way to obtain justice, which is for the Quebec government to make an immediate reference to the Court of Appeal to obtain a declaratory judgment in favor of people suffering from Alzheimer’s, like Nicole Gladu and Jean Truchon l were obtained from the Superior Court in September 2019 for people suffering from degenerative physical illness.
At the time, the Canadian government was strongly opposed to it. He then insisted on the criterion of “reasonably foreseeable death”, which the Senate had nevertheless refused to ratify in 2017 as contrary to the Carter judgment and subsequently adopting an amendment which removed it from Bill C-14. But the Trudeau government persisted in imposing it. It should be remembered that the joint committee of the Commons and the Senate insisted in 2016 that the right of access to medical assistance in dying should also be accessible to people suffering from mental illness.
The government at the time refused this recommendation, preferring to limit access to medical assistance in dying under the fallacious argument that “the population was not ready for this change”.
It was then surprising to hear the Trudeau government invoke “the degree of popular acceptability of assisted dying” to deny this right to so-called vulnerable people. A Charter right is a right. Point. Once the Supreme Court of the country has ruled on the existence of a right and defined the four criteria for access, there are no longer any arguments that hold up, unless we want to inventing them left and right to actually deny the right of access to medical assistance in dying to certain categories of people.
And this is what happened in 2021 when, during the pandemic while public attention was elsewhere, the government passed Bill C-7 to follow up on the Gladu-Truchon decision, but while at the same time suspending the right of access for people suffering from mental illness.
He preferred to rely on fears, prejudices and confusion in public opinion regarding the distinctions to be made between, on the one hand, people suffering from long-term and incurable mental illnesses, and on the other hand those who may suffer from suicidal tendencies. , to postpone today, for at least three years, the consideration of the right of access for these people experiencing intolerable suffering.
Where will we be in 2027, if a Poilievre government is in charge? The Conservative leader has already spoken categorically: he will use his authority to absolutely refuse to legislate and recognize this right.
However, among people suffering from mental illness, those suffering from Alzheimer’s do not present any particular diagnostic difficulty. Their condition is objectively observed by the cognitive weaknesses of their behavior and the irremediable loss of memory that follows.
These people must be immediately granted the right of access at the moment when their still present autonomy of decision allows them to request the exercise of their right.
Consensus
There is a broad consensus in professional opinion on this subject and a rigorous clinical supervision protocol can quickly be put in place. Let us add that 85% of public opinion is in favor, although this is not a determining factor. It is really the capacity of people to express advance consent, consent to be renewed before definitive loss of memory, which in fact represents the essential condition.
The Minister of Justice of Quebec, Simon Jolin-Barrette, requested, two weeks ago, an exception to the Criminal Code for Alzheimer’s patients in Quebec. His federal counterpart refused. However, Minister Jolin-Barrette has the chance to do better, to avoid forcing a patient suffering from Alzheimer’s to “drag” themselves, at their own expense, before the courts like Mr.me Gladu and Mr. Truchon had to do it, and have the Court of Appeal confirm that all these patients, wherever they are in Canada, have this right now.
All he has to do is submit the question to the Court of Appeal to obtain a declaratory judgment which recognizes that people suffering from Alzheimer’s enjoy this right within the framework and according to the clinical criteria of health professionals who guarantee the protection of these patients.
Justice for people suffering from Alzheimer’s. Nine years after Carter’s 2015 decision, the court will understand that this delay is cruel negligence. It is time to stop being “inhumane on a daily basis”: the courts will understand that political power unduly resists honoring the dignity and autonomy of these people who have lost their freedom to be. The courts remain the last resort for justice to be done, which is why citizens have confidence in their impartiality and their responsibility as guardians of our rights.