Kill the Bill

It is our hope and prayer that you will join us in calling on the Senate to Kill the Bill.

ARPA supporters will be very familiar with Bill C-7 (An Act to amend the Criminal Code – medical assistance in dying). The bill was introduced by the Minister of Justice on September 23, 2020, in response to the Superior Court of Quebec decision in Truchon v. Attorney General of Canada.

ARPA Canada has engaged extensively with Bill C-7 at every step of the way. We outlined our concerns with Bill C-7 through a constitutional and policy analysis that was shared with Members of Parliament. André Schutten, ARPA’s Director of Law and Policy, appeared before the Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. John Sikkema, ARPA’s former Legal Counsel, presented to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

You have also engaged with this bill! Hundreds of you sent emails to our government officials. You distributed tens of thousands of Care Not Kill flyers in neighbourhoods across the country. You organized Zoom meetings with MPs.

Through all of this messaging, we tried to convince legislators that Bill C-7’s further liberalization of Canada’s current law would endanger the lives of vulnerable Canadians. While we have witnessed to the truth about this aggressive expansion to the euthanasia regime in Canada, not enough of our elected officials are willing to listen. The Liberals and NDP have blocked every kind of sensible amendment that was proposed and seem intent on passing this dangerous piece of legislation.

The Senate will debate Bill C-7 very soon. The Senate has often been described as the “chamber of sober second thought.” We hope that Senators will give many sobering second thoughts to this dangerous legislation. At this point, we are switching tactics from advocating for amendments to make Bill C-7 a little less dangerous to calling on the Senate to Kill the Bill. We ask that you join us in this.

The refusal of the Liberals and NDP to allow any amendments to Bill C-7 means that, if passed, the amended law will allow a whole new category of Canadians to be killed, namely those who are not dying and whose natural death is not “reasonably foreseeable.” Tragically, this includes people with disabilities and chronic illnesses.

Kill the Bill is a final call to action on Bill C-7. If Bill C-7 is defeated, the Truchon decision’s expansion of euthanasia will only apply to Quebec instead of all of Canada. We believe that the defeat of Bill C-7 will ensure more Canadians are protected than would be if Bill C-7 becomes law.

Please join this effort to reach as many Senators as possible with the message that we need to Kill the Bill.