Robert Falcon Ouellette Parliament Speech

http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2016/05/robert-falcon-ouellette-suicide-assisted-suicide-speech-in-parliament/#.Vy1XCSghzzJ

Editor's Note Mr. Ouellette, a 38-year-old Cree, references Attawapiskat. Last month the Canadian parliament held an emergency debate on Aboriginal suicides after 11 people, nine of them minors, attempted suicide in one weekend in Attawapiskat, a remote community of 2,000 in northern Ontario.

The following is excerpted from the speech delivered by Robert Falcon Ouellette MP (Winnipeg Centre Liberal) on Monday May 2.

Robert Falcon Ouellette MP

"[Bill C-14] is taking us down a path that is very 

dangerous, and we do not know where it ends."

Madam Speaker, a report in The Globe and Mail on April 24, 2016, says 13-year-old Sheridan Hookimaw killed herself on the banks of the river that winds through Attawapiskat. The sickly girl had been flown out for weekly medical appointments. She wanted to end her pain, and in the process, she set off a chain reaction not only in her community but in communities right across this country, which we are still dealing with today.

Canadian parliamentary debate: Without amendment, Bill C-14 "will protect no one."

Garnett Genuis, MP

Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park ­Fort Saskatchewan, CPC) . . .

I want to be clear that I do not believe in an all-or-nothing approach. Many of my colleagues and I who have broad philosophical concerns about what is happening here are still willing to vote in favour of legislation that does not re-criminalize euthanasia, if it advances positively in the direction of saving some lives, especially minimizing the risk to vulnerable persons. However, this legislation does not contain meaningful safeguards. Without amendment, it will protect no one.

We know that this law has written exceptions. However, it has exceptions to the exceptions; and may I say it has exceptions to the exceptions that are not at all exceptional?

This legislation has a requirement for the provision of written consent. However, if people cannot provide written consent, someone else can do it on their behalf.

This legislation prescribes a waiting period. However, the waiting period does not apply in the event of possible imminent death or loss of capacity.

There is so much ambiguity here.

Canada: Liberal MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette is Voting "NO"

Robert-Falcon Ouellette, MP

http://aptn.ca/news/2016/04/20/indigenous-liberal-mp-ouellette-voting-against-governments-assisted-dying-bill/

Liberal MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette says he plans to vote against his party’s proposed bill to legalize medically assisted dying [assisted suicide and euthanasia].

Ouellette said the federal government should work around the deadline and delay legalizing assisted death for at least five to 10 years until it’s absolutely clear what sort of impact it would have in all corners of Canadian society.

Why on Earth is Anyone Surprised By the Rise in US Suicides? Advertising Works.

"Though the economy may well have contributed to this rise,
True Dignity calls everyone’s attention to a fact that is being ignored. 1998 was the year in which Oregon became the first state in the nation  to put legalized assisted suicide into practice."

From True Dignity Vermont:

News sources are reporting with surprise and seeming alarm on the Center for Disease Control's newly released statistics showing that deaths by suicide in the entire US are on the rise.  Why the surprise?  It has been common knowledge since the rise of mass media, and even before, that advertising works.

True Dignity has neither the expertise nor the time to analyze the CDC report’s statistics  in detail.   A few quotes will suffice to paint the picture of our current situation.

“The suicide rate in the United States increased by 24% from 1999 through 2014…among all groups.  The increase in suicide rate has been steady since 1999, before which there was a consistent decline since 1986…”  (USA Today, April 22, 2016, http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/04/22/suicide-rate-rise-us/83284568/).

Canadian Government Position on Suicide "Absurd"

http://lethbridgeherald.com/commentary/letters-to-the-editor/2016/04/21/is-suicidea-right-ora-tragedy/

Suicide: a right or a tragedy? 

The Emperor has no clothes.

The answer to this question might seem obvious, but the government of Canada apparently thinks that "both" is an appropriate answer. In one week, the same MPs in the same House of Commons discussed recently introduced legislation concerning assisted dying, while also holding an emergency debate on the rash of suicides and suicide attempts in remote aboriginal communities. This is absurd.

On the one hand, we are justifiably concerned and dismayed over the alarming suicide rates in aboriginal communities. And why shouldn't we be? It is tragic that so many people, especially youth, wish to end their lives, deciding that life is meaningless and not worth living.

Canada: Oregon Doctor Urges Rejection of Carter and Bill C-14

Dear Member of Canadian Parliament,

VOTE NO ON BILL C-14; INVOKE THE NOTWITHSTANDING CLAUSE TO OVERRIDE THE CARTER DECISION

"Don't follow Oregon's
 failed experiment"

For 49 years I have been a cancer doctor in Oregon where assisted suicide has been legal for a number of years. I have seen the tragedy and harm to patients, the medical profession and society from assisted suicide.

If enacted Bill C-14 will encourage people with years to live to have their lives terminated prematurely. My patient, Jeanette Hall, wanted assisted suicide from me in 2000. After helping her have hope in her cancer condition, she agreed to be treated and is now alive and very well 15 years later.  She says, "It's great to be alive!"

A Letter From Western Australia to Canadian MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette

I was pleased to see you questioning the impact of legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia on

Canada's Indigenous people.

As Canada considers legislation to change the law on murder and assisted suicide to allow certain people to be killed with legal immunity it may be helpful to consider the fate of the world's first modern euthanasia law.

In 1996 the Australian Parliament overturned the Northern Territory's euthanasia law. This followed an extensive Senate committee inquiry in which one of the key issues canvassed was the deep opposition to the idea that a doctor could give a lethal injection from the indigenous community and its leaders. Chapter 5 of the committee's report detailed concerns that indigenous health, already seriously below par with that of other Australians, would be further set back as indigenous people were afraid and unwilling to go to a hospital where one of the "treatments" on offer was a lethal jab.

"No" on Bill C-14 and Carter; No Assisted Suicide; No Euthanasia

Robert-Falcon Ouellette

Dear MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette:

I was happy to see the CBC article concerning your reluctance to endorse Bill C-14. You are right to be concerned.

I am a lawyer in Washington State USA where assisted suicide and euthanasia are legal. Bill C-14 and legalization generally will encourage people with years to live to throw away their lives. Carter was wrong. Legalization does not promote the right to life.

Please consider the following reasons:

1.  The bill's title, "medical assistance in dying," implies that eligible people are dying. There is no requirement that people be dying. They are instead required to have a "grievous and irremediable medical condition." See Bill C-14, § 241.2(2).

Canada, Liberal MP Not Sure About Proposed Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia bill

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/robert-falcon-ouellette-doctor-assisted-dying-indigenous-communities-canada-1.3537217

Robert-Falcon
Ouellette, MP

For Winnipeg Centre Liberal member of Parliament Robert-Falcon Ouellette, the ramifications of the Trudeau government's doctor-assisted dying bill are too final.

"Once we make a decision on this, there will be no going back," Ouellette said on Friday.

On Thursday, new legislation on doctor-assisted death [assisted suicide and euthanasia] was formally presented in Parliament.  . . .

The bill is expected to go before the House of Commons for a free vote, which means MPs can base their vote on their conscience, not their party.. . .

"I'm concerned that we haven't thought out the complete ramifications that a decision like this might have on indigenous communities that seem to be suffering greatly," he said. . . .

Ouellette said he has not reached a decision about how he will vote on [the bill] in the House of Commons.