Ottawa, Ontario September 27, 2022
ALERT
BILL C-230
Protection of Freedom of Conscience Act
The Trudeau government passed legislation on euthanasia in June 2016 called the Medical Aid in Dying Act (MAiD). This legislation permits physicians to kill their patients with a lethal injection under certain specific circumstances.
This legislation is acknowledged worldwide as the most permissible law on the issue in the world.
If the law passed in 2016 was not dangerous enough, it has now been amended by the federal government and also reinterpretation by the courts, to such an extent that a physician or other health care worker may now, instead of treating the patient, kill him, not necessarily for medical reasons, but for poverty, mental health, or because of lack of social services. This has resulted in the deaths of 31,664 Canadians from 2016 – December 2021 (see details of this abhorrent law discussed in the September 2022 e-REALity).
Another Flaw in the Legislation
A further tragic flaw in the legislation is that it fails to protect health care providers, who, as a matter of conscience do not want to kill patients or refer them to another for this purpose. Section 2 of the Charter of Rights provides for the protection of freedom of conscience as a fundamental right. However, it has become the practice of the courts to overrule any provision in the Charter (such as Section 2), if it is an impediment to a “progressive” interpretation of the legislation. For example, in 2019, the Ontario Court of Appeal refused to allow the right of freedom of conscience in the Charter to apply to the MAiD legislation. Instead, it held that a health care provider must refer the patient to another to carry out the killing. In its decision, the Court callously stated that if a physician doesn’t want to refer for euthanasia, then he/she should remove himself from the profession.
Bill C-230 Freedom of Conscience Act
Conservative MP Kelly Block (Carlton Trail – Eagle Creek, Saskatchewan) has introduced a bill to protect the medical profession from participating for reasons of conscience in euthanasia killings – either directly or indirectly by way of referral. It also makes it illegal for anyone to refuse to hire or dismiss from employment a healthcare worker who doesn’t want to kill a patient under MAiD.
Urgent Action Required
Bill C-230 is scheduled for a second hour of debate on Thursday, September 29, 2022 with a vote soon to follow.
REAL Women urgently requests its members to immediately contact their MP of whatever party to support Bill C-230. Although the bill will not end the killing under the MAiD legislation, it will at least protect healthcare workers from carrying out this atrocious act.