Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge MP Marc Dalton is hosting an upcoming forum on “the escalation of MAiD Canada.”
The Conservative Party of Canada wants to ensure people suffering solely from mental illness can not request Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD).
The MAiD and Mental Illness forum will be held at the Albion Community Centre (24165 104th Ave.) on Sept. 29 from 7 to 8 p.m.
Joining Dalton will be Abbotsford MP Ed Fast, who has tabled a bill to remove access to MAiD for those suffering mental illness.
Two other Conservatives attending will be Langley-Aldergrove MP Tako van Popta, who hosted a similar forum in June; and St. Albert-Edmonton MP Michael Cooper, who served on a joint-party committee on MAiD. Cooper has been an outspoken critic of the system, saying Health Canada does not ensure compliance with the safeguards in place for those who receive MAiD.
Dalton has watched the MAiD issue, and sees mental health as an obvious exception.
“There was a lot of push back, specifically on mental illness,” said Dalton, noting that psychiatric chairs of Canadian universities asked the federal government to reconsider this aspect of assisted death.
“We need to be focused more on mental health care,” asserts Dalton.
He told The News he has some personal insight, having suffered through depression in his 20s.
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“It was a dark and bleak time. But now, that is a distant memory,” said Dalton. “People go through these bad times. Many of them will get better, but they need supports.”
Dalton said he was bothered by stories of four military veterans being referred to MAiD by a caseworker at Veterans Affairs Canada. A Vancouver woman sent to Vancouver General Hospital during a mental health crisis in June, and staff asked if she had considered MAiD, which became legal in Canada in 2016.
These stories show unintended consequences of this change in law.
Dalton noted the evening will focus on the mental health issue.
“It’s not a debate of ‘should MAiD be here or not.’ It is here. The focus is on mental health,” he said. “We hope the government will fix this part of the legislation.”
MAiD was to be extended to those suffering solely from mental illness in March, but that timeline has been extended so the government can set standards.
READ ALSO: B.C. widow grateful MAID allowed her husband to die with dignity, compassion