Justice committee  I was fortunate enough to participate directly in those consultations. I think Dr. Janz has already suggested and indicated that there was very much a predetermined outcome. Given that we were extremely nervous about that predetermined outcome, we invited members of the vulnerable persons standard community to submit duplicate copies of their questionnaire submissions to us so we could tabulate what we call the “voices from the margins”.

Justice committee  Madam Chair, if I may speak to the question of your member, yes, absolutely, MAID should be an intervention of last resort, but only when a person's natural death is reasonably foreseeable. Absolutely, I agree, and I think all of the evidence points to the reality that there are far, far too many Canadians with disabilities and disabling conditions who have no access not only to palliative care, but to an array of in-home supports that would permit us to continue to live autonomously, to be the captains of our own ships, as it were, and to be included and participating in the communities in which we are able to thrive.

Justice committee  I speak today from Mi'kma'ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq people. I am a settler here, bound by treaties of peace and friendship and mindful that we are, all of us, treaty people. Madam Chair, I am sorry for any discomfort that my words may trigger, but with so little time, I must speak frankly and without reserve.