Bill C-7 puts lives on the line

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“We’re at the point where our lives are on the line.” EFC staff recently heard this from a woman with disabilities. She was expressing her deep concern about the new bill that expands euthanasia. She shared the need to use every means possible to challenge this bill, Bill C-7.  
 
It is your support and partnership that enables us to be present at such gatherings and work actively to speak biblically into crucial issues, such as caring for Canada’s most vulnerable people.  
 
We know that people with disabilities already struggle to receive support to live. Too often, they hear the message their lives are not worth living. They often face discrimination in the health care system and struggle to receive needed social and health care support.
 
Now, Bill C-7 would open the door to euthanasia for people with a serious illness or disability. This could pressure people with disabilities to end their lives.  
 
We know that every person’s life has worth and dignity. Each one has been created by God and is loved by God. We want to protect and uphold the sanctity of life of all people, and our neighbours living with disabilities need us to stand with them now more than ever.  
 
Thank you for how you enable us to do this essential work.  
 
Bill C-7 proposes to make watershed changes to the way Canadians understand life and medicine. It would remove the requirement that a person’s death is “reasonably foreseeable,” so that euthanasia becomes available to people who aren’t dying.  
 
For Canadians whose death is foreseeable, it also removes the 10-day reflection period between a person’s request for euthanasia or assisted suicide, and the day it is carried out. This could mean a person’s life is ended on the same day that they make the request for euthanasia.  
 
As one doctor told us, once the MAID team is engaged, the process is very difficult to stop. Patients feel pressure to continue, partly because of the busy schedules of the medical personnel. This bill removes the protection resulting from a mandated time to reflect. Reflection is crucial for someone who may initially consider a hastened death when they’re having a difficult day or when grieving the reality of a terminal diagnosis.  
 
Another key safeguard being removed by this bill is the need to reaffirm consent at the actual time of euthanasia. It allows for a waiver of final consent for people who have been approved for euthanasia, but who have lost their capacity to consent. The ability to consent is an important safeguard to protect against wrongful death.  
 
This bill is being rushed through Parliament. We believe it is essential for the process to slow down. These significant changes must be carefully studied and considered.  
 
MPs from many parties support the expansion of euthanasia and assisted suicide. If they hear concerns from their constituents, they will be more likely to pause and consider these views. The EFC is encouraging Canadians to take a few minutes to sign and send in the enclosed postcard, and then call or email their MP's office to tell them the postcard is coming and ask them to take action. Our experience tells us this has a big impact. MP’s names and contact information are available at www.ourcommons.ca/members/en/search.
 
Please join us in praying for hearts and minds to be changed, and for the lives of vulnerable Canadians to be protected.  
 
The EFC believes Bill C-7 must be amended so that it does not expand euthanasia to those who are not dying or remove crucial safeguards. With your help, the EFC will be able to communicate this vital message to MPs and Senators and to equip concerned Canadians to engage.  
 

How you can be involved  

Send in the enclosed postcard and then call your MP to share these three concerns:

1. Parliament is moving too fast to pass Bill C-7 and must slow down to study its impact more carefully.
2. Euthanasia must not be expanded to people who are not dying. Listen to the serious concerns of the disability community who will be affected.
3. Don’t remove critical safeguards like the 10-day reflection period or the ability to consent at the time of death.  

Also in this issue: What Evangelicals think about assisted dying; Updating you on Canada’s most immediate issues; Research on small churches; Message from the President; Hearts and hands – Insights from the work of the EFC’s Anita Levesque; and more.