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Kristina Tesser Derksen

Liberal on Medical Assistance in Dying Safeguards Act 2026-11-04

Replying to Garnett Genuis (Conservative)

“Madam Speaker, I am opposed to this bill on the grounds of the advance directives proposal. There is nothing in the bill that would even require that a person who had previously, maybe years before, signed an advance directive be consulted or told what is about to happen to them. The bill would allow a person to be killed based on a piece of paper they signed perhaps years before, without informing them what is about to happen to them. It is obviously a bit of a stretch to say, in the name of autonomy, that somebody can delegate the power of life and death for them to someone else. It means that somebody else would make that decision for them, again, without asking them or without telling them, potentially, and would have to assess, external to them, what is or is not intolerable in the particular circumstances. The person signing the advance directive would do so before they even have the lived experience of that condition. If I get a diagnosis today and am asked to sign a document about something in the future that I have never experienced, I am obviously doing that in relative ignorance of that experience. Does the member share these concerns at all about how this would work in practice? Even if she likes the idea of advance directives in theory, what would it mean in practice when somebody else has the power of life and death over a patient on the basis of something they signed years before?”

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Madam Speaker, this is a perfect example of how complex the issue really is. First of all, no one would be offered a document to sign. People would take the initiative, once they have received a diagnosis, in consultation with their medical provider, and they would decide. They would have to do the research. In fact, the legislation would protect people from having this offered to them or forced upon them. I know that is a concern of our Conservative colleagues, and it is one that is addressed in this legislation. Again, we are getting back to how much faith we put in individual Canadians to make autonomous decisions for their own care. For something in the future that they would have to deliberate, it would be a discussion they would have with their doctor, with their family and, if they are a person of faith, with their creator, and they would ultimately make the decision for themselves. At any point in time in the process after someone decides to sign an advance directive, they could withdraw it. In fact, they would not have to formally withdraw it. They could just say to the provider of MAID in the moment, or prior, that they are not willing to move forward. In fact the legislation even says if they make sounds or gestures that indicate they may not want it administered, then the provider could not administer it.