Honourable senators, I'd like to briefly speak in support of this amendment to limit the role of nurse practitioners in assisted suicide.

Further to what Senator Wallace was earlier stating, the Supreme Court of Canada's Carter decision made no reference whatsoever to nurse practitioners. Throughout the judgment the phrase "physician" is used in relation to assisted suicide over 100 times, including in the operative paragraph 127, but the term "nurse practitioner" was not mentioned even once. I submit it was not the Supreme Court of Canada's intention to extend the power to nurse practitioners to assess and approve patients for assisted suicide, or to administer it.

Both the Minister of Health and the Minister of Justice have asserted that they have included nurse practitioners in Bill C-14 in order to improve access to assisted suicide for Canadians living in rural and remote areas, yet they have not placed any such geographic restriction on the use of nurse practitioners in the bill. What this means essentially is that patients will not only be able to shop around for physicians who will be able to provide them with assisted suicide, now they will also be able to search for nurse practitioners to provide it for them as well. Even more disturbing, the legislation allows for approval for and administration of assisted suicide by two nurse practitioners in the absence of sign- off by any physician. This is not what the court intended, and it is not what Canadians want.

In two of Canada's most populous provinces, Ontario and B.C., nurse practitioners are not currently permitted to prescribe narcotics to patients. In some places, nurse practitioners cannot order certain tests, et cetera, without a doctor's approval.

In Ontario, for example, a nurse practitioner cannot prescribe codeine for a patient, and yet under Bill C-14, they would have the authority to decide whether or not that patient should die. I fail to see the logic in that.

I do not mean in any way to diminish the important role nurse practitioners play in our health care system. They are skilled, educated and competent. However, the fact remains that they are not doctors. When it comes to decisions around assisted suicide, decisions of life and death, those should only be made by those with a physician's training, education, expertise and certification.

If, as the ministers state, this is a question of access, then Senator Unger's amendments are a reasonable compromise. They would leave the decision-making process around a patient's competency and informed consent in the hands of doctors, where it rightfully belongs, but would allow nurse practitioners to deliver assisted suicide to patients after the appropriate assessment and approval by a qualified medical practitioner. This could address issues of access to assisted suicide in rural and remote areas, while still ensuring that a physician ultimately reserves the decision-making authority regarding assisted suicide.

For these reasons, honourable senators, I will be supporting Senator Unger's amendments, and I encourage you to do the same. Thank you.