Testimony to Government

This page is dedicated to the public testimony that has NOT been heeded by the parliaments, courts, governments and committees over the years. Most recent evidence is featured up top, and older evidence is farther down. We will continue to add information at the top, middle and bottom as we’re able to document it.

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November 28, 2023 — AMAD Meeting #40

If you have time to watch the entire hearing, I would strongly encourage you to do so. Here are some outstanding presentations.

Part 1 of Meeting #40

Testimony of Professor Archie Kaiser, Professor, Schulich School of Law and Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine (Cross-Appointment), Dalhousie University


Testimony of Dr. Tarek Rajji, Chair,
Medical Advisory Committee, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

Session Q&A

Part 2 of Meeting #40

Testimony of Dr. Sonu Gaind

Testimony of Dr. Eleanor Gittens, Clinical Psychologist

Part 2 Session Q&A
Additional Questions and Points of Order

November 21, 2023 — AMAD Meeting #39
The committee heard testimony again from presenters. Most of the witnesses were there to tell the committee members how safe and secure things are looking from their point of view. We learned how to pronounce MAiD – MDSUMC: It goes like this “Maid eMDee Sum See”, in a kind of sing-song voice (Think Humpty Dumpty).

One presenter, Trudo Lemmens, challenged their thinking based on evidence from Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as many legal scholars here in Canada. A head of psychiatry in Manitoba gave powerful evidence, then dealt deftly with questions in the Q&A. Presenters on the side of caution were out-numbered eight to two.

Here is that testimony:

Part 1:
Testimony of Trudo Lemmens, Professor, Scholl Chair, Health Law and Policy, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

The rest of the witnesses in Part 1 and Part 2 of meeting #39 were not speaking to our safety concerns.

Part 3 of Meeting #39

Testimony of Dr. Jitender Sareen, Head of University of Manitoba Department of Psychiatry

with Dr. Pierre Gagnon, Director of Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Université Laval

And speaking for 6 other university heads of psychiatry (8 out of 16) across the country.

Session Q & A

November 16, 2023
LWD made a paper Submission to the Joint Committee on MAiD – MDSUMC, urging them to exercise extreme caution in authorizing a new category of people who can legally be terminated by MAID practitioners. You can read our submission here.

November 7, 2023
AMAD met to consider whether or not the Canadian “medical, legal and political systems” are prepared for the inclusion of MAID – MDSUC in the system. MDSUC stands for Medical Assistance in Dying for people for whom a Mental Disorder is the Sole Underlying Condition. What are “Mental Disorders” ? This broad term covers everything that is included in the DSM5, apparently — everything from cognitive and intellectual disabilities, dementia, all the conditions associated with post-traumatic stress, everyone on the autism spectrum, anyone with an eating disorder, depression, anxiety, obsessive/compulsive disorder, learning disabilities, mood disorders, an on and on.

The committee’s Meeting #38 was on November 7th. The link will take you to the hearing, which you can watch in full if you have three hours to spare. It must report by the end of January 2024. If it believes the “experts” as it has been prone to do in the past, the change in the law will go ahead. The “experts” are convinced that there’s nothing to fret about. People with disabilities, by and large. disagree, some vehemently. They do not feel “safeguarded” by the safeguards that the “experts” are happy with. A lot of psychiatrists disagree with the experts who are speaking for them, and agree with people with disabilities and “mental disorders”. So … time will tell.

2023 – Quebec Bill 11

The bill was read and reviewed by the Quebec Commission on End-of-Life Care. “The provisions of this Act will come into force on the date or dates to be set by the Government“.
The Bill allows advance requests, which are not yet legal federally.
The bill provides that a mental disorder is not considered to be an illness.
The Bill states that palliative care hospices may not exclude medical aid in dying from the care they offer.
Amongst other changes.

Meanwhile, the Quebec Intellectual Disability Society submitted a brief to the Commission just in case they might be paying attention to voices of dissent from the community. The link will take you to their statement. You can click on the link included to read the entire excellent brief.

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2022: AMAD (Special Joint Committee)
Statutory Review – Medical Assistance in Dying
(after the passage of Bill c-7 which removed the “RFND” criterion (i.e. Reasonably Foreseeability of Natural Death)and added Track 2, allowing non-dying people with disabilities to apply for and receive medical assistance in dying (i.e. suicide assistance).

Note: This Committee’s Final Report was issued on February 15, 2023.

Below is a video made by Inclusion Canada showing the disrespect and contempt shown to members of the disability rights communities as they presented their points of view to the committee.



Nov. 25 – AMAD Meeting 29 [Protection of People with Disabilities]

Image shows four women: Top row, Yonah Martin, panel co-chair; Catherine Frazee. Bottom row, Megan Linton; Isabel Grant

Testimony of Dr. Catherine Frazee, TMU

Testimony of Isabel Grant, Professor, UBC School of Law

Testimony of Megan Linton, Researcher

Session Q & A

Part 2 of Meeting 29 [Mature Minors]

Testimony of Jennifer and Mike Schouten [Parents of Marcus]


Nov. 22 – AMAD Meeting 28 [Protection of People with Disabilities]

Part 1:

Testimony of Dr. Heidi Janz, Associate Professor

Testimony of Tim Stainton, UBC


Session Q & A

Part 2:

Testimony of Dr. Karen Ethans

Testimony of David Shannon

Session Q & A



Nov. 18 – AMAD Meeting 27 [Protection of People with Disabilities]

Part 1

Testimony of Gabrielle Peters, Disability Filibuster

Testimony of Krista Carr, Inclusion Canada



Session Q & A


Part 2


Testimony of the Duncan sisters, Daughters of Donna

Testimony of Kerri Joffe, ARCH

Session Q & A

Nov. 4, AMAD Meeting 25 [Inclusion of Mature Minors]



Part 1: Testimony of Elizabeth Sheehy, Law Professor and sister

Part 2: Testimony of Neil Belanger, Indigenous Disability Canada

Session Q & A (Part 1)
Session Q & A (Part 2)


October 28, AMAD Meeting 23 [Advance Directives]

Part 1

Testimony of Dr. Alice Chung, Geriatrician

Part 2

Testimony of Jonas-Sebastian Beaudry, McGill



Testimony of Dr. Marcia Sokolowski, Psychologist

Session Q & A

Testimony of a MAID practitioner (AMAD Meeting 23, Part 2)

I have included the shortest possible clip. This physician is a person who is not on our side of the argument. However it is notable that in her testimony, she freely (even cheerfully) tells the committee that she has been the consulting doctor on 800 MAID cases, and has actually provided at least 400 assisted deaths to date. This is a shockingly high number that should be accurately reflected in forthcoming Annual Reports.

In the most recent annual report there is no quantification beyond “10+”.

A colourful bar chart showing that most doctors have performed less than 9 assisted deaths.


This chart from the Annual Report requires some unpacking! The skinny bar at the top is misleading. 83.5% of doctors have performed less than 10 assisted suicides. About half of those, only 1. The 16.5% at the top represents a very big number of patients who had MAID performed by a very small number of physicians. While there may be good reasons to keep the identities of physicians confidential, there are NO good reasons for obscuring the facts in this way.



October 21, AMAD Meeting 21 [The state of palliative care in Canada]

Testimony of Derek Ross, CLF (Christian Legal Fellowship)

Session Q & A

October 18, AMAD Meeting 20 [The state of palliative care in Canada]

Testimony of Dr. Romayne Gallagher, UBC

Testimony of Baroness Finlay of Llandaff

Testimony of Dr. David Henderson, Integrated PC, NS

Testimony of Dr. Madeline Li, Psychiatrist & Ass. Professor

Q & A Session 1

Q & A Session 2

October 4, 2022 AMAD Meeting 18 [Mental Illness as sole underlying condition]

Testimony of Dr. Marie Nicolini, Psychiatrist, Ethicist, Researcher



September 23, 2022 AMAD Meeting 16 [Mental Illness as Sole Underlying Condition]

Testimony of Ellen Cohen, mental health consumer advocate, review panel resignee

June 27, 2022

Testimony of Cheryl Romaire, MAiD applicant

June 16, 2022. AMAD Meeting 13 [Protection of Persons with Disabilities, and Mental Illness]

Testimony of Trish Nichols, Family member of Alan Nichols

June 6, 2022 AMAD Meeting 11 [Inclusion of Mature Minors]

Testimony of Ahona Mehdi, DJNO

Testimony of Henry Myeengun, Indigenous Knowledge Keeper

May 30, 2022 AMAD Meeting 10

Testimony of Dr. Ramona Coelho, Physician

Testimony of Michelle Hewitt, Disability without Poverty

Testimony of Bill Adair, Spinal Cord Injury Canada

Testimony of Amelie Duranleau and Samuel Ragot, Quebec Intellectual Disability Society

Testimony of Conrad Saulis, Wabenaki Council on Disability

May 26, 2022 AMAD Meeting 9 [Inclusion of Mental Illness]

Testimony of John Maher, Ontario Association for ACT & FACT

Testimony of Georgia Vrakas, Psychologist

Testimony of Mark Sinyor, Professor

May 25, 2022 AMAD Meeting 8 (Suicide Prevention)

Testimony of Brian Mishara, CRISE (Centre for Research and Intervention on Suicide, Ethical Issues and End-of-Life Practices)

Testimony of Sean Krausert, CASP (Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention)


May 16, 2022 AMAD Meeting 7

Testimony of Sara Jama, DJNO

Testimony of Brian Mishara, CRISE

May 9, 2022 AMAD Meeting 6 [Advance Requests]

Testimony of Trudo Lemmens, U of T

Testimony of Dr. Catherine Ferrier, Geriatric Medicine

Testimony of Dr. Romayne Gallagher, Palliative Care


May 5, 2022 AMAD Meeting 5 [Advance Requests]

Testimony of Michael Bach, IRIS


April 28, 2022 AMAD Meeting 4 (Palliative Care)

Testimony of Dr. Ebru Kaya, Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians

Testimony of Dr. Harvey Chochinov, U of Manitoba

Testimony of Dr. Marjorie Tremblay, Physician


April 25, 2022 AMAD Meeting 3

Testimony of Dr. Felix Pageau, Geriatrician

Testimony of Dr. Leonie Herx, Queen’s U, Palliative Care

Testimony of Dr. Sonu Gaind, Professor

April 13, 2022 AMAD Meeting 2

Testimony of Jay Potter, Acting Senior Counsel, Department of Justice

2021 AMAD – Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying

Only a few meetings were held in 2021, somewhat pro forma, to technically comply with the 5-year time limit for review of the original legislation.

Jun 21, 2021 Meeting 3

Testimony of Trudo Lemmens, Law Professor, U of T;

Session Q & A

The Q & A involved the two witnesses, Trudo Lemmens and Jocelyn Downie.

2020

November 27, 2020. Submission to the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs by Laverne Jacobs, Law Professor; Canada’s representative to the UN – CRPD Committee (The first Canadian ever to be elected to that committee)

2020 – Bill C-7 – An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying) 

On October 5, 2020, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada introduced former Bill C-7: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying) in Parliament, which proposed changes to Canada’s law on medical assistance in dying. These changes were introduced in response to the Superior Court of Québec’s 2019 Truchon decision, in which it found the “reasonable foreseeability of natural death” eligibility criteria in the Criminal Code, as well as the “end-of-life” criterion from Québec’s Act Respecting End-of-Life Care, to be unconstitutional.

Pro forma public hearings ensued. The hearings are documented below. On March 17, 2021, Parliament passed former Bill C-7 to revise eligibility criteria for obtaining MAID and the process of assessment. These changes took effect immediately. 

https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill/43-2/C-7

2016 – Bill C-14 – Legislative Processes

Senate Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights

May 3-17, 2016

Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs

May 4-12, 2016

Meetings of the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs – 2016 – Bill C-14


Where can I get more information about The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, i.e. CAMH’s position on MAiD?

More to come! Please visit again …