MP for Cowichan, Malahat and Langford, Alistair MacGregor, has been elected as the third vice-chair of the federal special joint committee on medical assistance in dying.
The committee’s mandate is to review the Criminal Code for the changes related to medical assistance in death, as is now required by Bill C-7 that was passed in March. Bill C-7 legislates that assistance in death be available to people who’s natural death is not reasonably foreseeable.
This committee of five senators and 10 MPs has one year to review the Criminal Code and report back to parliament with their recommendations.
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“The issues surrounding (medical assistance in dying) legislation strike at the very core of who we want to be as a country. I look forward to working with my house and senate colleagues to ensure that we support the rights of Canadians to medically-assisted death, while safeguarding protections for our most vulnerable,” MacGregor said.
Bill C-7 stated that people whose only medical condition is mental illness should not be eligible for medical assistance in death, but sought otherwise to open regulations slightly.
The law has several safeguards in place to make sure people are protected.
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