SENATE TO HEAR FROM WITNESSES ABOUT AMENDMENTS TO MEDICAL ASSISTANCE IN DYING BILL (BILL C-7)

OTTAWA, ON – The Senate of Canada will begin hearing witness testimony on Monday, February 1, 2021as it relates to Bill C-7, a Bill to amend Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) legislation. The witnesses below are opposed to the government’s actions to expand medical assistance in dying, which includes amendments that allow people with disabilities to access medical assistance in dying without death being reasonably foreseeable. 

Date: February 1
Time: 10:00am (EST)
Location: Room C128, Senate of Canada Building, Webcast: http://senparlvu.parl.gc.ca/XRender/en

Notes for Media 

The following witnesses are available for interviews following their testimony: 

  • Sarah Jama is Lead Organizer with the Disability Justice Network of Ontario (DJNO), and Senior Program Coordinator with the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion (HCCI).
  • Heidi Janz, PhD, specializes in the field of Disability Ethics and is an Assistant Adjunct Professor with the John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre and Chair of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities’ End-of-Life Ethics Committee. 
  • Jonathan Marchand spent 43 days camped outside Quebec’s National Assembly raising awareness about the dangers of long-term care homes. He sees a direct connection between institutionalization and MAiD and has experience personally being offered MAiD as a solution to his suffering. 
  • Gerard Quinn is the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Special Rapporteur’s mandate is to strengthen efforts to recognize, promote, implement and monitor the rights of persons with disabilities from a human rights-based approach.
  • David Shannon – at age 18, he sustained a spinal cord injury in a rugby scrum that resulted in quadriplegia. Although he was never suicidal in acute or rehab hospital, he knows of many people who were. If this proposed legislation had existed back then, David is certain a doctor would have offered him the opportunity to die. 

Contact Information

To set up and coordinate an interview with any of these witnesses please contact Marc Muschler, Senior Communications Officer, Inclusion Canada by email at: mmuschler@inclusioncanada.ca, or telephone at:     416-661-9611 ext. 232

Inclusion Canada is a national federation of 13 provincial-territorial associations and over 300 local associations working to advance the full inclusion and human rights of people with an intellectual disability and their families. We lead the way in building an inclusive Canada by strengthening families, defending rights, and transforming communities into places where everyone belongs.