{"id":4949,"date":"2020-06-19T14:53:58","date_gmt":"2020-06-19T14:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/?p=4899"},"modified":"2020-11-16T11:27:09","modified_gmt":"2020-11-16T16:27:09","slug":"webcast-archive-no-free-choice-raymond-bourbonnais","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2020\/06\/webcast-archive-no-free-choice-raymond-bourbonnais\/","title":{"rendered":"Webcast Archive: No Free Choice &#8211; Raymond Bourbonnais"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>During the COVID-19 pandemic, we will not present our webcast, due to technical problems caused by heavy internet usage. However we are providing the text as a bulletin to offer up-to-date information about assisted suicide, euthanasia and ending-of-life practices for the disability community.<\/p>\n<p><b>NO FREE CHOICE: RAYMOND BOURBONNAIS<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.latribune.ca\/actualites\/denoncer-avant-de-mourir-video-6b5b5b9901c42d9660ec5ba19a0eda78?fbclid=IwAR0y-ihHsHkge1fONPqix2Qxte0YXzNWXu3MWqH7csvoz3FFyeqEtCUI6e0\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Raymond Bourbonnais<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was euthanized in December of 2019 after living in a Qu\u00e9bec nursing home (CHSLD) for 13 months. During that time he filed complaints about inadequate staffing, other residents assaulting him and taking his things, and not being able to have an air conditioner in his room.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mr. Bourbonnais had to move to a nursing home in November 2018 from a private residence for seniors because his worsening spinal muscular atrophy meant he needed more personal care.\u00a0 He thought the best option was the CHSLD in the town of Valcourt, where his son lives, but he was disappointed.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He found that staffing shortages and logistical problems sometimes caused delays of more than an hour after summoning help, and resulted in missed pain medications.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mr. Bourbonnais was not able to open the window in his room and the only way to stay cool during the summer was to keep the door to the (air conditioned) corridor open. This also opened the door to noise and unwanted visitors, causing stress and loss of sleep. \u201cThere is a lady who moves all my things. And since I am paralyzed, I no longer have them at hand. And a man, always the same person, has repeatedly attacked me physically; he shakes my arm or grabs my buttocks.\u201d These problems only improved when the troublesome residents became too disabled to get around independently.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He waited nearly two months for a response to his request to install an air conditioner. His request was denied because management said the electrical system couldn\u2019t meet the demand.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Imagine if, instead of paying for care in a nursing home, those funds had been given directly to Mr. Bourbonnais, to hire attendants to work in his home. If he needed round-the-clock care, sharing a two-bedroom apartment with a live-in attendant and hiring other staff to help with daytime tasks would have given him control over his environment and his life. Direct funding of personal care could have been a dignified, economical, and in the end, a life-saving alternative for Raymond Bourbonnais.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>FEDS REQUEST ANOTHER EXTENSION OF <em>TRUCHON<\/em> SUSPENSION<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the Qu\u00e9bec superior court decided the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.canlii.org\/en\/qc\/qccs\/doc\/2019\/2019qccs3792\/2019qccs3792.html?autocompleteStr=Truchon&amp;autocompletePos=17\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Truchon<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> case in September of 2019, it delayed the effect of the decision for six months, to allow governments to bring the law into line with the decision. The federal election (declared the same day as the ruling came down) shut down Parliament, so the Justice Minister asked for, and received, an extension until July 11 to adopt bill C-7, which was tabled in February. Then COVID-19 halted all parliamentary activity unrelated to the pandemic, so the federal government is asking for another extension until December 18.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the suspension is in effect, the law stands as it did before the court issued the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Truchon<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> decision; in Qu\u00e9bec only people at the \u201cend-of-life\u201d are eligible for euthanasia, while in the rest of Canada, the person\u2019s natural death must be \u201creasonably foreseeable.\u201d\u00a0 Should the court decide not to grant the extension, Qu\u00e9becers would be eligible for euthanasia whether or not they are at the end of life.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/department-justice\/news\/2020\/06\/joint-statement-by-ministers-lametti-and-hajdu-on-motion-seeking-second-extension-of-superior-court-of-quebecs-truchon-ruling.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">statement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from Justice Minister Lametti and Health Minister Patty Hajdu; \u201cWithout this extension, the \u2018reasonable foreseeability of natural death\u2019 criterion from the federal law will no longer be applicable in the province of Quebec on July 12, but would remain in effect in other provinces and territories. This means that criminal law would no longer be applied consistently across the country.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>ANNOUNCEMENT: CRPD ENFORCEMENT SURVEY<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca\/eng\/content\/persons-disabilities\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Canadian Human Rights Commission<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> ensures that non-discrimination laws are complied with, and has the responsibility to both promote and protect human rights. As a part of that role, the Commission was recently given a new responsibility; to monitor the implementation of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/disabilities\/documents\/convention\/convoptprot-e.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (CRPD) in Canada. This is a huge mandate; the convention contains 30 rights-related articles, and the optional protocol has 18, that affect the activities of federal, provincial, territorial and local governments, as well as private entities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Commission is asking people to fill out an online <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/surveys.chrc2020-ccdp2020.ca\/s3\/-EN-FR\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">survey<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to provide guidance on how it should ensure Canada complies with the CRPD. This is a chance to affect how the human rights commission will make the CRPD work for disabled Canadians.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n   ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nThis week: we look at the factors that drove Raymond Bourbonnais to choose euthanasia, and the Ministers of Justice and Health want to extend the suspension of the Truchon decision to pass Bill C-7.\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2020\/06\/webcast-archive-no-free-choice-raymond-bourbonnais\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast Archive: No Free Choice &#8211; Raymond Bourbonnais&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2020\/06\/webcast-archive-no-free-choice-raymond-bourbonnais\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast Archive: No Free Choice &#8211; Raymond Bourbonnais&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[784,354,735,511,776,729,95,788,785,741,738,731,739,733,742,805,99,94,727,97,62,740,770,499,96,98,101,468,156,724,373],"class_list":["post-4949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-webcast-archive","tag-assisted-suicide","tag-autonomy","tag-choice","tag-continuous-palliative-sedation","tag-covid","tag-degenerative","tag-dignity","tag-end-of-life","tag-euthanasia","tag-external-pressure","tag-grievous-and-irremediable","tag-hospice","tag-incurable","tag-informed-consent","tag-irreversible-decline","tag-maid","tag-medical-aid-in-dying","tag-medical-assistance-in-dying","tag-nursing-home","tag-pain","tag-palliative-care","tag-quality-of-life","tag-rationing","tag-reasonably-foreseeable","tag-safeguards","tag-suffering","tag-suicide","tag-terminal","tag-triage","tag-ventilator","tag-vulnerable","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4949"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4957,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4949\/revisions\/4957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}