World News – CA Senators Call For Race-Based Data To Be Part Of The Assisted Dying Program

Senators want the federal government to collect race-based data on who in medicCanada requests and receives medical assistance in dying

The bill would extend access to euthanasia to excruciatingly suffering people who are not near the natural end of their lives

The amendment reflects the concern that black, racial and indigenous people with disabilities who are already marginalized and face systemic discrimination in the health system could be induced to end their lives prematurely due to poverty and lack of support

Sen Mobina Jaffer, a member of the Independent Senators Group who proposed the change, noted that no race-based analysis was performed when the bill was drafted

“Every fourth person has been excluded from data collection,” she told the Senate

Your amendment was largely supported and tabled without objection, with the exception of the government representative in the Senate, Sen. Marc Gold said he wanted to abstain

Sen Kim Pate, another member of the Independent Senators Group, said the change won’t ensure no one opts for assisted death due to unequal access to health care, housing, and social and income support

But she said it will ensure that “the government has to provide at least some answers about who is using Bill C-7 and under what circumstances”

Pate said the government should also be asked to provide more information on who has access to euthanasia, including income, whether they are institutionalized, and whether they have access to alternative means to alleviate their suffering, as well as social and financial assistance

Senators burned the midnight oil Thursday night as they continued debating and proposing legislative changes

The extended hours were part of the Senate’s determination to close the debate and get a final vote on C-7 by next Wednesday

The schedule is designed to give the government time to meet the three times extended February 26 judicial deadline for law to comply with a 2019 Supreme Court ruling of Quebec

With this decision, a provision has been deleted that allows access to euthanasia only for intolerably suffering people whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable

Earlier this week, the Senators approved several major changes to the bill, including one that would allow people who feared losing mental capacity to pre-petition for assisted death and another that would amend the proposed ban of the draft law would limit assisted death to 18 months for people suffering solely from mental illness

When Senators approve an amended bill next week, it will have to return to the House of Commons to decide whether to accept or reject the changes and then back to the Senate to decide whether to accept the House of Commons ruling

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