VIDEO: Aaron Stonehouse on end-of-life choices

I rise to back the establishment of a joint select committee on end-of-life choices. As a libertarian, someone who believes passionately in the inalienable right of the individual to do as they choose with their own body, my support of this motion should come as no surprise.
This is an issue I have pondered long and hard. Our approach to death, and to end-of-life choices in particular, has evolved over the years. We have relegated to history the medieval idea that those who take their lives early have broken the law and deserve to have their estate forfeited and their remains denied a Christian burial.
From the middle of the eighteenth century to the present day public attitudes towards end-of-life choices and suicide have softened. While it still saddens us to see a life ended early, I hope that fewer of us would try to lay claim to the life of another.
Our lives belong to each of us as individuals and that is why I have to believe, as sad as I find it to acknowledge, a person may have valid reasons to want to take his or her life.
Currently, the law states that we are only allowed to die by our own hand, without assistance from anyone else. In fact, in three of our neighbouring jurisdictions a reasonable degree of force can be used to stop a person from taking their own life.
The law effectively says that if a person is too weak or incapacitated to end their life, they must suffer until nature or God’s will takes hold. As things stand, it is a serious offence for anyone to either help a person to die or to tell them how to do it.
Personally, I think the situation as it stands is cruel, and unnecessarily so. Denying someone the right to die at a time of their choosing can result in a lingering and painful death. I do not see how that can be justified when alternatives are available to us.
I acknowledge that not everyone here will agree with me, and that is one of the reasons I welcome the establishment of a joint select committee to further investigate the issues surrounding euthanasia and assisted suicide. It is my hope that the committee, if established, will pay special attention to the safeguards that would need to be put in place to reassure people.
I would not be happy associating myself with any bill that did not have such safeguards. I imagine almost everyone here would feel the same. At the end of the day, whatever we may or may not believe about the actions that lead someone to take their own life, I feel that the law should respect the right of the individual to make his or her own choices.
In my opinion, our approval of those choices is neither necessary nor relevant. For that reason, I would like to see a well-thought-out bill presented to this house in due course, and I see the establishment of this committee as the first step towards that. As such, I welcome this motion to establish a committee and urge members to join me in supporting it.

