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A bill to expand access to medical assistance in dying (MAiD) comes to a Senate vote no later than Feb 17. That leaves a bare working week for the House to consider what may be a number of Senate-approved amendments before a court-imposed deadline for final passage on Feb 26.
Bill C-7 is the Trudeau government’s response to the 2019 Quebec Superior Court Truchon ruling named for Jean Truchon, one of its two disabled, but not dying, plaintiffs which struck down the current euthanasia law’s “natural death is reasonably foreseeable” criterion as too narrow. It asserted the right to MAiD for any Canadian suffering what he or she considers irremediable mental or physical suffering. The government did not appeal the judgment, an indication of its willingness in fact eagerness to meet and, as evidenced in Bill C-7, go beyond Truchon’s request.