2024 poll confirms British Columbians want choice in matters relating to end-of-life care, including medical assistance in dying

VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 25, 2024 /CNW/ - A recent Ipsos poll commissioned by Dying With Dignity Canada indicates that residents of British Columbia want the autonomy and free will to make health care decisions in accordance with their life values. Leading up to the October 2024 provincial election, these results should help all candidates and political parties understand the priority that B.C. residents attach to the removal of all artificial barriers to their end-of-life care options.

The poll indicates that 86% of British Columbians continue to support the original Supreme Court of Canada decision (Carter v. Canada) to recognize medical assistance in dying (MAID) as a constitutionally protected right.

As the province of Quebec prepares to allow advance requests for MAID for their residents starting October 30, 2024, the poll shows 85% support for a Federal amendment to the Criminal Code to decriminalize actions of a clinician performing MAID under a written advance request. An advance request for MAID would allow an individual to describe, in writing, a future state in which they would like to access MAID. Seventy-eight per cent also believe it is important for the B.C. government to immediately amend the Health Care (Consent) & Care Facility (Admission) Act to add an advance request option for an assisted death.

Sixty-eight per cent, including 74% of Roman Catholics, believe that publicly funded health care facilities should be required to provide the full range of health care services, including MAID, if they have the proper equipment and staff to do so. Seventy-nine per cent also believe that the province of B.C. should renegotiate the thirty-year-old Denominational Health Association (DHA) Master Agreement which allows publicly funded, faith-based facilities an exemption from providing certain lawful medical services, such as MAID.

The B.C. public is very much ahead of all political parties in wanting to exercise these health care choices free of unnecessary barriers and religious influence. The poll reveals that governments need to develop new and comprehensive strategies for these health care issues – strategies that are characterized by both robust safeguards for the truly vulnerable but autonomy of choice and personal discretion for those who would otherwise suffer grievously. These are human and Charter rights, the denial of which presently cause much needless suffering and existential pain.

Quotes

"These polling results are consistent with what we have been hearing across the country for years; people want choice and autonomy regarding their end-of-life wishes, including advance requests for MAID and access to all available end-of-life care and treatments, regardless of the religious affiliation of a publicly funded health care facility. We urge election candidates to listen to the majority of B.C. residents and act accordingly. It's time for new and courageous leadership that reflects what people across Canada want."

- Helen Long, CEO, Dying With Dignity Canada

"We have waited long enough for our elected officials to act on the wishes and needs of people in British Columbia. Eight-three per cent of us want legal advance requests for MAID, something my husband said he wanted when he was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's at the age of 55. It's too late for Dave, but we can't ignore a majority of B.C. residents who want to avoid unnecessary suffering from capacity-diminishing diagnoses."

- Susan Archibald, wife to Dave Archibald who suffers daily from Alzheimer's disease

"British Columbians have always been early adopters of issues involving end-of-life rights, including the court challenge to ban assisted suicide by Sue Rodriguez in 1993 and the successful court challenge by the families of Kay Carter and Gloria Taylor in 2015. It's time for end-of-life care options to reflect what residents of B.C. want, confirmed in these recent Ipsos findings, including advance requests for MAID and an end to the restrictions imbedded in the dated Denominational Health Association (DHA) Master Agreement."

- Alex Muir, Chair, Metro Vancouver Chapter of Dying With Dignity Canada

Data and a further breakdown of poll results found here.

SOURCE Dying With Dignity Canada Inc.

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