Thread by @InclusionCA

The Special Joint Committee on MAiD (#AMAD) is discussing MAiD for Mature Minors.

Elizabeth Sheehy starts out strong "I add my voice to the clear and unequivocal opposition expressed unanimously by disability rights groups across this country to yet another extension of MAiD".

Here's the link to meeting: parlvu.parl.gc.ca/Harmony/en/Pow…

"I testified before the Senate committee that studied Bill C-7 to oppose extending MAiD to people with disabilities who are not dying. We lost that fight. And so the bonfire started, the wood was laid and the match was lit."

"Now here we are about to throw children in the bonfire. And this is what they are, they are de facto children... What parent has not seen their teenagers suffer deeply from anxiety racism, misogyny, homophobia, depression, social exclusion." - Elizabeth Sheehy

"We know too that intergenerational trauma and sexual abuse play a huge role in generating mental suffering of young people, and that disabled girls and Indigenous kids are disproportionately at risk... Extending made to mature minors is reckless" - Elizabeth Sheehy.

Mary Ellen Macdonald says "It is not okay to be advancing research policy or practices on MAiD for mature minors without an actively soliciting and listening to youth voices."

We would agree! The catch is that gov't needs to hear the clear dissent of youth with disabilities.

Dr. Arundhati Dhara is a MAiD provider. She tells the story of a 90 year old woman who died by MAiD.

"The truth is that the considerations for her capacity for informed consent to that procedure are actually no different than they would be from mature minor."

"The right thing to do doesn't always feel good. In fact, a friend of mine who's an ethicist said, ethics only really comes into play when everything makes you really uncomfortable." - Dr. Dhara

Hmm...

In the Q+A Sheehy says "It's not discriminatory to exclude certain groups from MAiD. We limit certain medical procedures to different age groups based on the risks and for this group... the risks are real, and given the finality of death, the risks are acute."

"I'm most concerned about young people with disabilities. Children with disabilities are more affected by suicidal ideation. They've absorbed the social message that their lives are not worth living. They feel anxiety about the burdens they place on their families." - Sheehy

"And it's not really until they mature that they can see that this is actually a social issue - you know - the social discrimination against people with disabilities" - Sheehy

In the Q+A Elizabeth Sheehy warns: "We have, clearly, an inability to distinguish between track one (terminally ill) and track two (not terminally ill). Once we allow further extensions to track one, we know for sure that these will extend to track two. We cannot contain it."

Senator Kutcher asks Dr. Dhara about the "yuck factor" and about "moral panic." "Do you think this has characterized some of the highly emotional discussions that occur around MAiD?"

"In my professional opinion, it's so essential to have youth opinion and perspectives and experiences at the table as we're having these conversations. I'm talking about individuals who are embedded in communities embedded in families." - Macdonald

Dr. Eduard Verhagen is presenting on the second panel. Dr. Verhagen is the doctor who came up with the Groningen Protocol in the Netherlands. The Groningen Protocol provides for the euthanasia of infants.

"In the Netherlands we have a euthanasia law that starts at the age of 12. So 12 year olds and older, ask for euthanasia. Parents consent need to be present until 16 year of age, but if parents and children disagree on the request, we follow the child." - Dr. Verhagen

"I expect that in the course of 2023, The Netherlands will allow euthanasia in minors between 1 to 12 years old."

Neil Belanger of @BCANDS1:

"Nov. '22 marks the 8th anniversary of Indigenous Disability Awareness Month, which celebrates Indigenous peoples with disabilities and their overwhelming contributions. We meet to discuss assisted death for Indigenous children under the MAiD regime."

"No tangible engagement with indigenous peoples on MAiD occurred...This begs the question: why would Canada, this committee, or anyone presume the authority to make recommendations or implement actions for the expansion of state assisted death and suicide for Indigenous children"

"To make proposed changes to MAiD without comprehensive consultation with the indigenous peoples of Canada flies in the face of reconciliation... and is the continuation of destructive colonial systems and their paternalistic mindset of 'trust us we know what's best'." -@BCANDS1

"If state assisted death is expanded to include mature minors at end of life, this will result in the expansion of MAiD to include mature minors not at end of life who live with disabilities or have mental illness as a sole condition. This is not what might happen - this fact."

"MAiD should never be seen as a solution to address the absence of services and resources, but it is fast becoming that. And this is the collective failure of us as the people of Canada. Thank you." - Neil Belanger

In the Q+A Neil Belanger is asked "Can you think of any other federal government policies that affect indigenous communities so significantly, yet have had so little indigenous consultation?"

One might assume that he would say no.

But he says "This seems to be kind of the rule"

Dr. Verhagen is asked about the social situation of the mature minors who have died by MAiD in the Netherlands.

"They were all from middle class or higher families."

Class is just one marker of marginalization / oppression. Can we get a disability lens? An intersectional lens?