Conservative MP Garnett Genuis tabled Bill C-260 today, a new piece of legislation that would prevent people in positions of authority from initiating conversations about medical assistance in dying (MAiD) with individuals who haven't requested it.

Genuis spoke at a news conference on Parliament Hill Thursday, explaining more about his vision behind Bill C-260 — Care Not Coercion. 

“ This bill seeks to address the existing gap in Canada's MAiD law by prohibiting a government bureaucrat in a position of authority from proposing MAiD to a citizen who is not asking for it. If passed, this law will provide robust protection for people with disabilities, veterans and others who are trying to access government services,” said the MP for Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan in Alberta. 

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Genuis highlighted troubling headlines and cases of MAiD being offered and promoted unprompted by bureaucrats, calling it "discrimination and coercion" that undermines access to support. He cited examples such as Canadian Armed Forces veteran David Baltzer of St. Catharines, Ont., who was offered MAiD by Veterans Affairs Canada, as well as  Nicholas Bergeron, a 46-year-old man from Quebec who was not interested in a medically facilitated death, but was “repeatedly” pushed towards the option by a social worker.

“(The social worker) presented a very bleak, worst-case scenario for his illness, and told him that sometimes you just have to stop fighting,” Genuis said. “ Difficult conversations about MAiD happen between a willing patient and their health-care provider, they should not happen between a bureaucrat and a citizen who is trying to access unrelated services.” 

Genuis refers to such cases as being part of a much larger,  troubling pattern. He shared that Krista Carr, CEO of Inclusion Canada, recently told the finance committee that she receives complaints on a weekly basis from people with disabilities who are facing MAiD coercion. 

“ It is important for doctors and nurses to be very cautious in how they have these conversations, but those who are not supposed to be involved in these conversations, regardless, as they are completely outside of those kinds of consults, it’s completely inappropriate for those kinds of people to be raising the conversation in the first place,” he said. 

“This bill is a step. It clearly doesn't solve every problem, and it's designed to be, for instance, complementary with the work of my colleague Tamara Jansen and other potential initiatives that could come forward.” 

Jansen sponsored Bill C-218, which seeks to prevent persons whose sole medical condition is mental illness from accessing euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. 

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The Permanent Council of Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops released a statement on Feb. 4 in support of Bill C-218. 

“Human life is a gift that must be protected and valued at every stage and in every circumstance. As Canada’s Bishops have consistently affirmed, euthanasia and assisted suicide, whether for the sick, the dying, persons with disabilities or those with mental illness, are always morally unacceptable,” the statement reads. 

Genuis also confirmed that Bill C-260 doesn't define coercion explicitly, but instead prohibits initiation by those in authority who know the person in question has not requested the discussion, deeming it "coercive by its nature." 

Genuis told The Catholic Register  he will be able to bring Bill C-260 forward to debate and vote, tentatively expecting the first hour of debate in the spring and the second hour in the fall, followed by a vote. He said he “would be inclined” to try to trade the bill up so that it could be passed faster, but in the absence of such levels of certainty, plans to use the time to mobilize public awareness and engagement on it as much as possible.

“ We're continuing to see this building of momentum in terms of people coming out and sharing their stories, and so we want people to become aware of this, to share their stories, tell their friends and to contact their Members of Parliament,” he said. 

“We believe that sufficient engagement and momentum on this from people with disabilities, veterans and people who are concerned about the way the facilitated death regime has unfolded in general. We can't let this be an initiative that goes quietly in the night. Members of Parliament have to hear from real people.” 

See carenotcoercion.ca/. 

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