No MAiD...No Contract...No Public Funding

Assisted dying has been legal in Canada since June 2016 with 85 per cent of Canadians supporting physician assisted death. More than 3.5% of all deaths on Vancouver Island are through MAiD.

116 of the 384 publicly funded long-term care beds in the Comox Valley are located in a faith- based facility, the Views. The Views absolutely prohibits Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) anywhere on its property and forces the dying, sick and frail to transfer from their care home to be assessed for or provided MAiD – this is cruel and unjust.

The Views policy violates residents’ Section 7 and Section 15 Charter Rights, their constitutional rights under Bill C-14, the protections of the Community Care and Assisted Living Act, the BC Medicare Protection Act and the Canadian Health Act. Furthermore, Canadian law does not recognize institutional conscientious objection -- bricks and mortar have no conscience.

On March 9 2018, Island Health issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for 120 new complex care beds for the Comox Valley -- faith-based suppliers who refuse to allow MAiD on-site will be allowed to bid. This would permit the Roman Catholic Views organization to submit a proposal that, if successful, would supply public funding to rebuild its existing aging residential care facility as well as increase its already dominant share of our residential care beds.

Publicly funded health care contracts should only be awarded to suppliers who are fully supportive of contemporary Canadian policies such as MAiD.