A Message from the President Moses Znaimer

ISUPPOSE THE BEST that can be said about the Liberal Assisted Dying Bill is that it’s a start; that it’s a way to overcome the shock of the new and get the least controversial elements of this new “right” on the books, from which it can evolve into the more evolved law its many supporters hoped it would be.

But it’s also perverse. It’s hard to believe, but the Liberals are poised to pass a law in apparent contradiction to the Supreme Court case that brought about the law in the first place; a law that might even not have allowed Sue Rodriguez, who started all this, a choice. This can only lead to more protracted litigation, resulting in still more suffering.

So, as Sandra Martin, author of A Good Death, wrote in a recent Globe and Mail article, “despite reams of statistics exploding the myth of the slippery slope,” the Liberals appear to have joined the ranks of those who, having lost the Debate in Chief, hope to derail its intent by throwing up hypothetical or rare case problems to slow everything down or derail it entirely.

I marvel at the righteous certainty of those who are willing to condemn the vast majority who seek this relief to further needless suffering because of distant risks that can be readily mitigated. This uncertainty is in itself a problem. As doctors do not want to risk violating the law, without clarity many physicians will be unwilling to provide assisted dying.

Let’s hope that the upcoming debate in Parliament does the right thing, especially with regard to the right to an Advance Directive, which CARP members have endorsed wholeheartedly.

Next time, I’ll be writing about happier things. In particular, our new campaign to learn more about who we Zoomers and CARP members really are. Bye for now.