The two approaches are framed in private member’s motions before Parliament. Conservative MP Steven Fletcher favours Criminal Code amendments to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia. NDP MP Charlie Angus wants a national palliative care and end-of-life strategy to ensure no one dies alone or in pain. One is about hastening death, the other about prolonging life.

The Catholic Register has been a steady advocate for palliative care and a consistent opponent of euthanasia and assisted suicide. So between the two visions, we stand squarely behind the call to establish high-quality, end-of-life services for all Canadians. Yes to palliative care; no to euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Fletcher, though, is placing his focus on euthanasia and assisted suicide. His bill is similar to euthanasia legislation recently proposed in Quebec, which in turn resembles a private member’s euthanasia bill Parliament overwhelmingly rejected in 2010. For Fletcher, a quadriplegic, the issue is about individual autonomy. He believes that, subject to stringent oversight, adults should have the right to direct a doctor or caregiver to bring about their death.

Assisted death is wrong in any scenario, but it is particularly worrisome that this death knell is being rung in the vacuum of Canada’s current palliative care strategy. Fletcher believes assisted death is a matter of choice. But choice requires options. A viable option is palliative care. It should be a fundamental Canadian right that, when death is inevitable, people have access to compassionate environments in which professional caregivers manage physical suffering and provide emotional and spiritual support. Yet today that option is non-existent for more than 70 per cent of Canadians.

Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller was spot on when he said that to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide without first ensuring all Canadians have access to palliative care would be denying citizens a truly free choice. Without the option of home or hospice end-of-life services — when the only choice is to either endure suffering or hasten death — Miller suspects many vulnerable people will give in to pressure or despair and ask to die.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are divisive issues, not so palliative care. A January survey by Harris/Decima found that 96 per cent of Canadians support public investment in palliative care. Unlike assisted death, support for a vision of care for an aging Canada is almost unanimous. It’s time to get on with it.