Quebec will allow early MAiD requests starting end of October
Global News
Quebec's government said last month it would stop waiting for the federal government to implement the requested amendments and forge ahead with plans to grant early MAiD requests.
Quebecers who want to arrange a medically assisted death before their condition leaves them unable to grant consent can do so as of next month, the province announced Saturday as it unveiled details of a plan to grant such requests without waiting for Ottawa to update the country’s criminal code.
Quebec’s government said last month it would stop waiting for the federal government to implement the requested amendments and forge ahead with plans to grant early MAiD requests. On Saturday, the province announced such requests could be granted as of Oct. 30.
“The issue of advance requests for medical assistance in dying is widely agreed upon in Quebec,” Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said in a press release.
Seniors Minister Sonia Bélanger called the province a leader in upholding “patients’ right to die with dignity.”
The government said it has asked the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions to respect the conditions laid out in the province’s act respecting end-of-life care when it comes to pressing criminal charges.
In response, the Director’s office issued its own release immediately after the government, saying it would instruct criminal and penal prosecutors that “it would not be in the public interest” to authorize criminal prosecutions for deaths occurring in a context of MAiD so long as the care is provided in compliance with the act.
Director Patrick Michel says prosecutors will only intervene when a police investigation has taken place or a complaint has been made that someone’s wishes were not respected in accordance with the law, for example, if someone was alleged to have been coerced.
When asked whether Quebec is acting illegally without Ottawa modifying the Criminal Code, Michel said prosecutors will continue to enforce the law until Ottawa steps in and takes action.
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