Week of Jan. 19

Palliative care must meet needs of all Canadians Sir: Re: Ken Bryson’s Jan. 5 letter on palliative care.

Palliative care must meet needs of all Canadians

Sir: Re: Ken Bryson’s Jan. 5 letter on palliative care.

With all due respect Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu’s Private member’s Bill for a National Palliative Care Framework, it seems to me to be a basic reiteration of NDP MP Charlie Angus’ Palliative Care Motion 456 of 2013, which was passed unanimously by House MP’s in May 2014.

One startling difference between the two is Angus’ framework included ensuring Canada’s First Nations people were included, while MP Gladu’s bill does not.

Although Angus sent a written request to then Health Minister Rona Ambrose for implementation of his unanimously passed motion, the Harper Conservatives never did act on it.

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives ended the National Secretariat on Palliative and End of Life Care in 2006.

As for the Liberals, their recent C-14 addressed palliative care, providing leadership the Conservative government never offered, while at the same time supported a national framework for palliative care within the context of the Canada Health Act.

The Liberal party showed its support by offering $3 billion to the provinces in C-14, specifically to bolster palliative, hospice and end-of-life care.

Everyone agrees palliative and end-of-life care are things Canadians should have access to and options for. The Liberals C-14 includes medically assisted dying, as supported by the Supreme Court of Canada in the Carter decision.

What the Conservatives do not agree to, specifically, is that.

Health care should include palliative care. However any end-of-life framework must respect all cultural and spiritual needs, requirements and decisions arising from them, whether the person in question is particularly religious or not, and not simply be geared to reflect the requirements of some of the conservative voting base.

Stanton Earle

Sarnia

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Wrong to deny others option of assisted suicide

Sir: Re: Ken A. Bryson’s letter, “Hats off to Marilyn Gladu’s private Member’s bill.”

I would like to express my agreement that Bill C-277 will do wonders in guaranteeing funding for end-of-life care to anyone who is terminally ill, should they choose this path.

But Mr. Bryson states that “being terminally ill in a grievous and irremediable condition” does not justify assisted death as the right means to an end of suffering. Apparently, he believes it is the wrong means to an end.

I see it as a problem when people with a suicide-is-a-sin moral compass (and voting rights) feels they can decide for someone else that it is right to take their long-and-painful time arriving at the same destination.

It’s fine for Mr. Bryson, if it’s right for him, to choose to take his time. But who is he to say that another person shouldn’t have the right to a choice, or that one choice is more right than the other?

Furthermore, stating that “providing aid-in-dying sets sail on an ethical slippery slope where governments use one-sided standards to determine the quality of life” is a laughable charge. Euthanasia for seniors? Where is this Orwellian dystopia he is living in?

The grownups in the room are talking about giving mentally competent people a choice to live or not live as they alone see fit, and he is drawing a comparison to lining up the old and the weak for slaughter.

To paraphrase the Supreme Court of Canada’s description of the end-of-life dilemma, “A person facing this prospect has two options: [they] can take [their] own life prematurely, often by violent or dangerous means, or [they] can suffer until [they die] from natural causes. The choice is cruel.”

Assisted suicide is a compassionate way out. You can have the last four weeks of your life in a morphine-induced-haze if you want, I wouldn’t dare take that right away from you.

I, however, think I’ll spare my loved ones the horror, kick my own bucket coherently, and let my family get on with celebrating my life and remembering the man I was. So it goes.

Scott M. Ovens

Sarnia

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New leader-building school program a great addition

Sir: Thank you so very, very much for the Troy Shantz article and photo about the new club at P.E. McGibbon School (Thursday, Jan. 5).

The “Builder’s Club” is sponsored by the Golden ‘K’ Kiwanis Club and its goal is to foster young leaders in the school and community.

Once again I say thank you to the volunteers for their time, energy and expertise and they guide our young leaders.

Once again I am encouraged to see one of the many positives in the world of education these days.

Once again I am reminded that I must be getting older. I have known three of the four young ladies in the photo since Junior Kindergarten.

Thanks again for the happy news. It was truly uplifting.

Mary Ettinger

Sarnia