Speech (House debate)

{
    "time": "2016-05-03 11:55:00",
    "attribution": {
        "en": "Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park\u2014Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)",
        "fr": "M. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park\u2014Fort Saskatchewan, PCC)"
    },
    "content": {
        "en": "<p data-HoCid=\"4318674\" data-originallang=\"en\">Madam Speaker, I believe that at the beginning of his comments my hon. friend talked about what dignity is and said that dignity is up to the individual to decide. If you decide you have dignity, then you do, and perhaps if you decide you do not have dignity, then you do not. I find this definition rather troubling. First, there is no regime of assisted suicide proposed here or anywhere else that defines dignity in this wholly subjective way. It still tries to say that a person who has these physical or psychological symptoms can have dignity and someone without those symptoms cannot. It would seem that the typical understanding of dignity in this legislation and elsewhere does look for these external markers.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4318675\" data-originallang=\"en\">I liked what my colleague from <a data-HoCid=\"214107\" href=\"/politicians/joel-godin/\" title=\"Jo\u00ebl Godin\">Portneuf\u2014Jacques-Cartier</a> had to say yesterday about dignity being intrinsic to all human beings, because if we interpret dignity in the subjective way that the member has, I wonder where that leaves any efforts at suicide prevention. If a person said, regardless of his or her external circumstances, that he or she does not have dignity, then where does that leave efforts to tell that person that he or she does have intrinsic dignity and that he or she should not take his or her life? I wonder what the member thinks about the implications of his account of dignity for anyone in a difficult situation, anyone who might want to take his or her life.</p>",
        "fr": "<p data-HoCid=\"4318674\" data-originallang=\"en\">Madame la Pr\u00e9sidente, je crois qu\u2019au d\u00e9but de son intervention, mon coll\u00e8gue a expliqu\u00e9 en quoi consiste la dignit\u00e9, en ajoutant que chaque personne doit en d\u00e9cider pour elle-m\u00eame. Si on d\u00e9cide qu'on a de la dignit\u00e9, alors on en a et si on d\u00e9cide qu'on n\u2019a pas de dignit\u00e9, alors on n\u2019en a pas. Je trouve la d\u00e9finition du d\u00e9put\u00e9 plut\u00f4t troublante. D\u2019abord, aucun r\u00e9gime d\u2019aide au suicide propos\u00e9, ni ici ni ailleurs, ne d\u00e9finit la dignit\u00e9 d\u2019une fa\u00e7on si subjective. Le r\u00e9gime propos\u00e9 insinue qu\u2019une personne qui a des sympt\u00f4mes physiques ou psychologiques peut \u00eatre tr\u00e8s digne, alors qu\u2019une personne qui n\u2019a aucun de ces sympt\u00f4mes peut ne pas faire preuve de dignit\u00e9. Il me semble que dans cette loi et ailleurs, la d\u00e9finition de \u00ab dignit\u00e9 \u00bb repose sur ces marqueurs externes.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4318675\" data-originallang=\"en\"> J\u2019aime ce que mon coll\u00e8gue de <a data-HoCid=\"214107\" href=\"/politicians/joel-godin/\" title=\"Jo\u00ebl Godin\">Portneuf\u2014Jacques-Cartier </a> a dit hier de la dignit\u00e9, qui est inh\u00e9rente \u00e0 tous les \u00eatres humains, parce que si nous consid\u00e9rons la dignit\u00e9 aussi subjectivement que le fait ce d\u00e9put\u00e9, je ne sais pas comment nous pourrons encore pr\u00e9venir le suicide. Si une personne affirme, quelles que soient les circonstances dans lesquelles elle se trouve, qu\u2019elle n\u2019a pas de dignit\u00e9, alors comment allons-nous essayer de la convaincre que la dignit\u00e9 est inh\u00e9rente \u00e0 sa personne et que, par cons\u00e9quent, elle ne devrait pas s\u2019enlever la vie? Je me demande ce que le d\u00e9put\u00e9 pense des r\u00e9percussions que sa d\u00e9finition de \u00ab dignit\u00e9 \u00bb aura pour quiconque se trouve dans une situation tellement difficile qu\u2019il ou elle d\u00e9sire s\u2019enlever la vie.</p>"
    },
    "url": "/debates/2016/5/3/garnett-genuis-1/",
    "politician_url": "/politicians/garnett-genuis/",
    "politician_membership_url": "/politicians/memberships/4383/",
    "procedural": false,
    "source_id": "8889328",
    "h1": {
        "en": "Government Orders",
        "fr": "Initiatives Minist\u00e9rielles"
    },
    "h2": {
        "en": "Criminal Code",
        "fr": "Le Code criminel"
    },
    "document_url": "/debates/2016/5/3/",
    "related": {
        "document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fdebates%2F2016%2F5%2F3%2F"
    }
}