Feds acknowledge Senate debate, but near-death proviso non-negotiable: ministers

Health Minister Jane Philpott and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould say they are OK with most of the seven amendments the Senate has proposed to their controversial assisted-death bill, known as C-14.

But they gave in to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government. Kay Carter suffered intolerable pain from her spinal stenosis, but her death might not have been “reasonably foreseeable” when she travelled to Switzerland in 2010 for help dying.

“We must therefore recognize that it is those upon whom we impose our will (in the Commons) who are going to be held accountable for what we do in this house and therefore we need to use that power very carefully”.

Canada has been without a criminal law governing assisted dying since June 6, when the Supreme Court’s Carter decision went into effect.

In an earlier amendment, the upper chamber deleted that clause, but, it was put back into place in the House of Commons.

“We think that is cruel and unjust”, Patterson said.

However, we can not support the amendment that will substantially change the important balance between individual autonomy and the protection of vulnerable persons, as we carefully designed in the Bill passed by the House of Commons.

But there were indications that most senators would defer in the end to the will of the Commons, and support Bill C14.

“This Senate can not and must not allow itself to be intimidated”.

Batters, whose husband David Batters, a former Member of Parliament, battled depression and committed suicide in 2009, criticized the Trudeau government for rejecting substantive amendments to the bill, including narrowing eligibility criteria to those who are terminally ill.

In a statement, the BC Civil Liberties Association, which fought in the initial Supreme Court legal challenge, said the government’s legislation “allows terminal patients to ease their death with a doctor’s assistance, but eliminates the right of non-terminal patients to escape years and decades of torturous pain”. He argued that the Senate has a duty to uphold the Constitution and charter of rights and to protect minority rights.

Independent Senator Mike Duffy said Bill C-14 isn’t a carbon copy of the Supreme Court’s original ruling, but rather a balance. The bill was voted through after a final bid by senators failed to expand the scope of who qualifies for a doctor-assisted death. Serge Joyal, replaced C-14’s eligibility requirements, which mandate a patient’s death must be “reasonably foreseeable” with Supreme Court language seen as more inclusive.