CCRL takes aim at euthanasia law as MP submits conscience bill

OTTAWA—As the Trudeau government moves forward with legislation expanding euthanasia to those with mental illness, resistance is mounting, with the Catholic Civil Rights League entering the fray and a Conservative MP introducing conscience protection for health-care workers.

On Tuesday, the Catholic Civil Rights League asked Canadians to contact their MPs and urge them to reject any expansion of euthanasia through Bill C-7, which it said is “worse than the status quo of the euthanasia and assisted suicide regime in Canada.”

Days earlier, Conservative MP Kelly Block introduced a private member’s bill to give health-care workers conscience rights protection from participating against their will in Canada’s “medical assistance in dying” (MAiD) system.

The Saskatchewan MP’s proposed Bill C-268 had its first reading in the House of Commons Feb. 18 and comes as the federal government pushes legislative changes making it easier for Canadians to kill themselves with the help of a doctor.

The Commons approved Bill C-7 in December and sent it to the Senate, which returned it with several amendments including one that would open the door to mentally-ill Canadians accessing legally-sanctioned suicide. The bill is currently in debate in the Commons.

A statement released by Block’s office said her proposed bill would “extend protections for medical professionals who have chosen to not take part, directly or indirectly, in medical assistance in dying or euthanasia.”

The bill would make it a punishable offence to use violence, threats, coercion, or intimidation to force a medical professional to take part in or refer a patient for assisted suicide. It also prohibits the firing or refusal to hire medical professionals if the sole reason is their refusal to take part in medical assistance in dying, Block’s office said.

“Freedom of conscience is one of the first fundamental rights laid out in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and it is at the core of our Canadian identity,” Block said. “This private member’s bill is a response to calls from physicians and patients to ensure conscience rights for medical professionals.” 

The B.C. Catholic interviewed Kelly Block on religious freedom in 2018.

Conscience rights have been a key issue for many religious and civil groups who oppose legally-sanctioned suicide and its expansion. The Catholic Civil Rights League said “safeguards” to prevent abuse “have proven to be illusory, and we once again call for opposition to Bill C-7 in its totality. If judges wish to expand assisted suicide, let them make the decisions, rather than imposing such decisions on health-care professionals.”

The league said with Conservative MPs working to delay passage, “it is conceivable that C-7 will not get passed before the March 26 deadline, which may result in the killing of the bill.  The government may nevertheless force the legislation through using other resources at its disposal.”

Canada’s Catholic bishops have joined with other religious organizations in opposing legally-sanctioned suicide in all its forms and have also spoken out in favour of conscience rights for health-care providers.

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada has also opposed Bill C-7 and called for “strong, clear conscience protection” in the Criminal Code.

“No one should be compelled to participate in practices to bring about the death of another person, against their deeply held beliefs,” an EFC letter to the government stated. “This essential protection is missing from Bill C-7.”

Block said her bill would protect the doctor-patient relationship “by ensuring doctors and other medical professionals are always able to recommend and provide the care they believe is best for their patient.”

The bill would provide for “a minimum national standard of protections for the freedom of conscience of medical professionals,” she said, “while respecting the jurisdiction of my provincial colleagues to expand on this bill.”

Block’s bill was put forward just days before the federal government was granted yet another extension by a Quebec court to make Canada’s assisted suicide legislation compatible with a 2019 Quebec court ruling. That decision said that requiring a person’s death be foreseeable was too restrictive.

The bill has been stalled in the Commons where it faces stiff opposition from the Opposition Conservatives over the Senate’s amendments.

“It has been a year since the Liberal Justice Minister tabled Bill C-7,” said Conservative justice critic Rob Moore. “Now, at the last minute, the Liberals are accepting an amendment that would start a reckless countdown to expand MAiD to those with mental illness.”

Instead of “recklessly expanding MAiD to those with mental illness,” Moore said the Liberals “should focus on providing additional mental support.”

The government rejected another Senate amendment that would have allowed advance requests for assisted suicide from people who fear being diagnosed with dementia or other competence-eroding conditions.

Canadian Catholic News with B.C. Catholic files