I copied below the govt’s survey verbatim so that people can read it in its entirety to see if they want to bother filling it out. I expect the survey I completed will be deleted by the TBA and UCP catholics and my input excluded in the results the gov’t will use to claim Albertans want MAID criminalized.
I expect the anti-rights, anti-freedom, rape religious UCP will misrepresent the survey results to legislate no right to MAID in Alberta serving the catholic church, violating charter rights yet again.
I have no problem with anyone practising their religion (as long as they don’t harm others doing so, e.g. raping kids), but I protest when religious persons take or try to take my rights away while pushing their religion onto everyone.
It’s my choice, not that of the catholic church or anti rights anti choice Adriana LaGrange.
https://extranet.gov.ab.ca/opinio6//s?s=64937
- Do you live in Alberta?
Yes or no.
2. What is your age?
3. What is your gender?
4. Please describe your race/ethnicity (select all that apply).
Arab
Black
East Asian (e.g., Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
Indigenous (e.g., First Nations, Metis, Inuk / Inuit)
Latin American (e.g., Mexican, Colombian)
Middle Eastern (e.g., Egyptian, Iranian, Lebanese)
South Asian (e.g., Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan)
Southeast Asian (e.g., Filipino, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Thai)
White / Caucasian
Another ancestry or ethnic heritage
I prefer not to answer
- Please choose the community you live in.
Rural (Less than 1,000 population)
Small population centre (population between 1,000 and 29,999)
Medium population centre (population between 30,000 and 99,999)
Large population centre (population between 100,000 and 499,999)
Very large population centre (population of 500,000 or more)
6. I have experience with MAID.
Yes – personal
Yes – professional
Yes – personal and professional
No
I prefer not to answer
- I have learned about MAID in the following ways (select all that apply).
Health Care Worker
Family
Friends
News Media (television, newspapers, etc.)
Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.)
Educational programs, workshops, and conferences
Books
Other
- The Government of Alberta should create more safeguards to provide oversight to MAID decisions in Alberta.
Strongly agree
Agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Unsure
I prefer not to answer
- People with mental illness as their only medical condition should NOT be able to apply for MAID.
Strongly agree
Agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Unsure
I prefer not to answer
- Patients with both physical and mental illness need additional safeguards as mental illness may impact decision making for those who requested MAID for a terminal physical illness.
Strongly agree
Agree
Neither agree nor disagree (neutral)
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Unsure
I prefer not to answer
- Family members should be able to challenge a MAID decision (i.e. whether a person is approved for MAID or denied).
Strongly agree
Agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Unsure
I prefer not to answer
12. Family members should be able to access health care records relating to MAID for the purposes of challenging MAID decisions.
Strongly agree
Agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Unsure
I prefer not to answer
- I support MAID as an end-of-life health care option.
Strongly agree
Agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Unsure
I prefer not to answer
Thank you for taking our survey.
***
MAID SURVEY Province seeking public input on MAID by Lethbridge Herald, Nov 19, 2024
The provincial government is seeking public input to gather information about legislation and policies on medical assistance in dying.
In a release Monday, the government said it is reviewing how MAID is regulated to ensure there is a consistent process and oversight that detects vulnerable members of the Alberta population, specifically people living with disabilities or dealing with mental health challenges.
An online survey is running until Dec. 20 at www.alberta.ca/medical-assistancein-dying-engagement for Albertans to share their views and experiences.
The government says it will also be engaging with medical associations,
academics, religious organizations and others that have an interest in
violating charter rights and freedoms to serve rape religion, notably the cruel thieving lying pedophile-protecting and silent shuffle murderous catholic church. and/or working relationships with the MAID process, disabilities, heath and mental heath care.
Feedback will be used to help inform the province on planning and policy decision making including potential legislative changesto take away and violate Albertans’ charter right to MAID (because Alberta is a tiny minded, extremely and cruelly evangelical, Steve Harper controlled, charter-hating, anti-freedom anti-rights except for them and theirs, abusive hate-filled, ignorant, anti science religious backwater).
“Our government has been clear that we do not support the provision of medically assisted suicide for vulnerable Albertans facing mental illness as their primary purpose for seeking their own death. Instead, our goal is to build a continuum of care where vulnerableSo that the pro suffering zealots can bankrupt them via abusive (too many are catholic) private profit ripoff facilities that devour public health funds from the feds while not providing mandated public health services (e.g. MAID, abortion, birth control) while blaming Trudeau for Harper’s/TBA/UCP’s failings)Albertans can live in long-termtorture chambers that makes rich religious abusers richer
Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said the province’s priority is to ensureall Albertans – religious or not – will not have access to MAID because it goes against the raping catholic religion and that of others in TBA and the UCProbust safeguards are in place “to protect vulnerable individuals.”
The province says it doesn’t support expanding MAID eligibility to include people dealing with depression or mental illness.Because Steve Harper, Danielle Smith and LaGrange and UCP/TBA are controlling bullying cruel fuckers that want those harmed by rape and other traumas and mental health ailments to continue suffering needlessly and horrifically because that suffering profits the rich and rape religions.The federal government has put a pause until 2027 on expanding eligibility to those with mental illness as their sole underlying medical condition and the province wants that policy to end completely.And that in my view is the real reason for Alberta’s online MAID survey; I believe Harper and his UCP/TBA intend to legislate no MAID allowed in Alberta, not for irremediable mental health suffering, not for any suffering, no matter what is law in Canada federally.
MAID column didn’t fairly portray the entire picture by Lethbridge Herald Letters to the Editor, March 16, 2023.
Editor:
Recently the Lethbridge Herald published an article by a Mr. Zekveld of ARPA that related the failings of medical assistance in dying (MAID) and its legislation in Canada. I know I don’t have to point out the one-sided and biased nature of that article to our astute Lethbridge Herald readers, but I wanted to reply with several opinions of my own.
Though the basic facts of the article were true, it didn’t portray the whole picture. The Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying has deliberated three topics (eligibility for those with mental illnesses, MAID for mature minors, and the ability to request MAID in advance). Fact. Canada already has one of the most permissive “MAID regimes” – Also a Fact. However, the comment about “failing to protect vulnerable Canadians” is pure opinion.
In regards to eligibility for those with mental illness as the sole underlying condition, the article stated “A 2022 Expert Panel… noted significant risks and concluded this report is the beginning of a process.” Fact. The panel’s report also included the statement “the committee believes that such individuals should have access to MAID. The committee… wants to ensure that standards are in place before eligibility is permitted.”
The exclusion of those with a mental illness from accessing this constitutional right is stigmatizing and discriminatory, and requests for MAID by people whose sole condition is a mental illness must be treated on a case-by-case basis. The expert panel made 19 recommendations regarding requests for MAID by those with mental illness, showing their commitment to ensuring the correct assessments are made in these cases. Health Canada has convened a group which is currently developing practitioner standards and guidance for these situations.
“There’s no bringing … children back from the dead,” Mr. Zekveld writes. Fact. There’s no bringing anyone back from the dead. That is why there are safeguards and eligibility requirements in place for all medically assisted deaths. Nobody is suggesting that there will be a huge influx of children requesting MAID – only that in very specific circumstances, a capable individual who is a mature minor could have the same opportunity to be assessed as someone who was 18.
In many jurisdictions across Canada, mature minors already have the right to make important decisions regarding their end-of-life care. This includes the right to consent to or refuse live-saving medical treatment. We, as a society, have an obligation to listen to the voices of children and to recognize their suffering.
There is a difficulty in “anticipating in advance what a person might later feel is an intolerable condition.” Not a fact. Those with life-limiting conditions, who understand the path of their decline, and are experiencing this decline first-hand know what will feel intolerable to them.
An advance request involves a competent person making a written request for MAID that could be honoured later, after they lose the capacity to make medical decisions for themselves. It would outline specific details and the personal circumstances of the condition that would lead to triggering this request. (Examples: If I no longer consistently recognize my partner/children; if I can no longer toilet myself). An advance request could save a person from having to endure months or potentially years of unwanted suffering.
There is already the option of a Waiver of Final Consent. This allows a person who has already been assessed and approved, to receive MAID if they no longer have the capacity for consent at the time of the procedure. This is based on a signed and dated agreement, and is used only in specified circumstances. There are also many legal options (outside of MAID) that allow a person to refuse a ventilator, or life support even if they cannot speak for themselves. Do you have a personal directive?
“MAID is already available to them Indigenous people.” Fact. It has been available to anyone who meets the eligibility criteria in Canada since 2016. There is a strong focus on Indigenous consultation and consideration throughout the aforementioned report, including from Health Canada on its engagement with First Nations, Inuit, and Metis people on the subject of MAID. This input will be valuable as Canada navigates changes and updates to MAID legislation, and will be invaluable to the ongoing work of truth and reconciliation.
“The report summarized arguments about… whether Canadians will choose MAID due to lack of access to services.” Fact. The report did discuss this. Many of those advocating for MAID are also advocating for more available services for vulnerable populations, and more funding for healthcare, palliative, and end-of-life care. The lack of services and social supports is concerning (Fact). However, an individual is not eligible for MAID on the basis of inadequate supports. Conditions like poverty, homelessness, short intervals of depression or feelings of being a burden do not qualify a person for MAID. Suffering based on these things may lead a person to apply for MAID but would not lead to them being approved.
I support the right of Mr. Zekveld to have and to share his own opinion, and I respect those who have decided MAID is not for them.
I also fully support those who are advocating for MAID as an available option for the people who choose it.
If you are interested in learning more, please seek out further resources. Great places to start include the Government of Canada website, Dying With Dignity Canada, and your local bookstore or library. Take good care.
Erin Quan
Lethbridge
MAID: Legalize first and ask questions later by Daniel Zekveld ASSOCIATION FOR REFORMED POLITICAL ACTION CANADA, March 3, 2023, Lethbridge Herald
In 2021, Parliament set up a special committee of MPs and Senators to study the issue of “medical assistance in dying” (or MAiD) and to make recommendations to Parliament. The Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying released its “Choices for Canadians” report on February 15.
The Committee recommends expanding MAiD further, even though Canada’s existing MAID regime has major problems. Canada already has one of the most permissive euthanasia regimes in the world and has failed to protect vulnerable Canadians. Further expansion will only exacerbate the problems.
The Committee addressed three areas for expansion; MAiD where a mental disorder is the sole underlying medical condition, MAiD for “mature minors” (i.e. older children), and MAiD by advance request – meaning that a person can ask now to be euthanized later, when they have lost the capacity to give consent.
On MAiD for mental illness, the Committee’s report summarized arguments that witnesses made about whether mental illness is ever irremediable, whether being suicidal is different than wanting to be euthanized, and whether Canadians will choose MAiD due to lack of access to services.
Meanwhile, a 2021 report by a committee of the Quebec legislature recommended against MAiD for mental illness. And a 2022 Expert Panel report on MAiD for mental illness noted significant risks and concluded, “This report is the beginning of a process, not the end.”
The Committee endorses the government’s decision to delay legalizing MAiD for mental illness until March 2024, acknowledging that potential problems have not been adequately addressed. But they support legalizing it anyway, assuming the problems will work themselves out. The Committee says it should reconvene five months before MAiD for mental illness begins to discuss it again.
Next, the Committee recommends legalizing MAiD for “minors deemed to have the requisite decision-making capacity upon assessment.” Here too, there are major gaps in the research, and multiple witnesses told the Committee about the need for further consultation and research, about the need for greater access to supportive services for youth, and about the limited capacity of minors to understand and make a decision to end their own life at their age.
The Committee admits it is “important to proceed cautiously in allowing MAiD for mature minors.” Hence, it recommends that an independent expert panel study and evaluate the provision of MAiD to minors in the five years after it is legalized. Permit, then study. Experiment, that is. Who knows what problems they will discover in their study five years from now, but there’s no undoing the past. There’s no bringing euthanized children back from the dead.
The Committee supports conducting “consultations” with minors to get a sense of their views on MAiD, as this remains largely unknown. But again, for this Committee, it’s legalize first, consult after.
Finally, the Committee recommends that the government “allow for advance requests following a diagnosis of a serious and incurable medical condition, disease, or disorder leading to incapacity” despite the difficulty in predicting the rate of decline and anticipating in advance what a person might later feel is an intolerable condition, after he has lost the capacity to give (or refuse) permission to euthanize him.
The report also addresses the fact that many Indigenous people are worried about what MAiD means for their communities, and that they have not been adequately consulted. Yet, MAiD is already available to them and is having an impact on their communities.
The Committee report raises more problems than it resolves. In March 2021, Parliament passed Bill C-7, which was supposed to legalize MAiD for mental illness in March 2023. They legalized it at a future date, then spent two years trying to justify the forthcoming legalization. They failed. Then they delayed for another year. The Committee commits the same folly. Commit to legalizing now; justify later.
We cannot afford to play catch-up on implementing safeguards, monitoring implementation, and researching risks after expanding euthanasia and ending thousands more lives. MAiD is irreversible, and the federal government must recognize the inherent problems with any further expansion.
Daniel Zekveld is a Policy Analyst with the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) Canada.
Troy Media
manby:
Maid is so very necessary ..and not an easy access. So there is no problem having been through the this process with my spouse