2024-01-30 17:56:01
The Trudeau government was forced to postpone the expansion of medical assistance in dying to people affected by mental disorders because it wanted to do things too quickly, according to Minister Sonia Bélanger.
• Read also: Ottawa further rejects medical assistance in dying for mental disorders
“You’re practically taking the words out of my mouth!” said the elected official responsible for end-of-life care when asked if Ottawa had turned corners on this issue.
“I think that when you haven’t reached a place, it’s better to delay. That’s what they did,” she added.
On Monday, the Trudeau government made the decision to postpone the coming into force of certain provisions of the federal law on medical assistance in dying.
People with mental illness will therefore not be able to access this procedure from March, as planned, and they will have to wait at least until the next federal election.
Listen to the news review commented by Alexandre Dubé and Mathieu Bock-Côté via OLD :
In Quebec
Minister Bélanger also recalled that Quebec specifically made the choice to exclude people struggling with mental illness when Quebec law was expanded last year.
“We had not had a solid and scientific demonstration of the irreversibility of the mental disorder. I also found that users had perhaps not been consulted enough in this process, so we did not put it in our law,” she said.
“The day the population wants to debate this, we will be there in Quebec to do things correctly. But honestly, we’re not there,” she added.
Advance requests
Regarding advance requests, Minister Sonia Bélanger reiterated her promise to present a detailed action plan aimed at speeding up the process. Its decision to include a maximum period of 24 months for the entry into force of this provision of the law attracted criticism.
“We have made enormous progress on the anticipated request, we are in important discussions,” she said, before announcing that she will “soon” take stock of the issue.
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