Interview with EFC Policy Director and Analyst

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYjpb9j0k1w

Join us for an insightful interview with the EFC Policy Director and Analyst, discussing key policies and their impact on communities. Gain valuable perspectives on current issues.

Transcript

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Transcript

hi everybody it's Kristin Maryland from the national House of Prayer today we are at EFC offices the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada we're at their offices today with some interesting news So today we're going to be talking with Julia Beasley and Beth heimstra and we we start well first I want to thank you so much for for meeting with us and but before we actually start would you just tell us a little bit about um EFC and what your roles are here at EFC sure so the EFC is the National Association of Evangelical Christians in Canada since it was established in 1964 the EFC has provided a forum for engagement and collaboration among the roughly 1.7 million evangelicals in

Canada who are part of our constituency and as you mentioned we are sitting here in the EFC Center for Faith and public life in Ottawa where we engage with the government and in the courts on a range of issues that are of concern to the Evangelical community so I work as director of public policy and I'm a policy analyst to the EFC yeah yeah so together we're kind of the efc's Public Policy Department one So today we're here to talk about made and made as an acronym for medical assistance in dying the law for made passed in 2016. initially it was for those who are terminally ill so they would shorten their um their suffering their physical suffering but a lot has changed in the

six years so I'm wondering can you just tell us what's been happening with made over the last six years sure so since the law passed some recent statistics tell us that over 31 000 Canadians have died by made um more than 10 000 of those were just in 2021 and so with the trajectory of these numbers increasing and increasing we expect those will be even higher for 2022 but it's not just the numbers that have expanded um the impact and the reality of the law has changed so about two years ago in 2021 a second track for made was created which allowed people who were not dying but who had a disability or chronic illness to be eligible for maid and this change you know we talk about

it as a a sort of a form of ableism a very apparent ableism and discrimination against people with disabilities because other people who are not dying are protected yes right under the law but people with disability or chronic illness are outside of those protections and it also um it strikes a blow and I think sends a message to people who are vulnerable that maybe their lives are less worth living than others and so you know we have been hearing story after story after Story in the media of people who are opting for maid um they are eligible because they have disability or chronic illness but it's very clear when you listen to them and they're saying it openly that the reason

they are applying is not because of their disability or chronic illness it's because they can't afford to live it's because they can't afford housing or they can't access adequate medical or Home Care they can't afford their prescriptions and so the stories are kind of you know I don't want to die but I don't want to be homeless more than I don't want to die or when the money runs out yes I will opt for maid and you know these kinds of stories are just unacceptable you know I think it should be unacceptable to every Canadian it should certainly be unacceptable to those of us who are Christians amen exactly what so out of this what is your biggest concern moving forward and you

know that's a loaded question yeah I you know I think our concerns are are multiple um you know we're just starting to see and understand how the laws as they are right now are impacting Canadians who are vulnerable um people who aren't dying but right for whatever reason whatever their circumstances in those moments of vulnerability are making these choices um and according to the law right if they meet that criteria if they have a disability or chronic illness that causes suffering that's irremediable then they are eligible but they are clearly saying this is not why and so the fact that they're being approved when they're openly saying that the reason for the request is not

actually their Condition it's their circumstances yeah um and you know sometimes we have waiting lists for housing and other supports and services that are very very long and then of course in as of March people with mental illness alone will be eligible and that's coming up that is coming up very quickly yeah and this is something that I think should scare all of us you know we the statistics on Canadians on Mental Health tell us that if we ourselves are not suffering that someone in our family someone we love someone who is an essential part of our lives and Community is suffering and again those waiting lists that ability to access care and support is often at

the end of a a rather lengthy waiting list you know what they initially when they came up and started about talking about made decades ago the warning from the Christian Community was that this will be a slippery slope and it's actually a prophetic sound that this has been beyond a slippery slope and it's like we're in a full-blown luge and they're just racing to the bottom and so another concern is that we've heard about is mature miners that absolutely is it is diabolical that this is on the table Yeah and the concerning um regarding mature minors is what is the definition of a mature minor so where do we draw the line yeah do you want to speak to what yeah yeah well

there's a parliamentary committee looking into this right now and they're hearing from Witnesses who say there shouldn't be a minimum age for medical assistance in dying and just on a case-by-case basis doctors would evaluate whether they think someone is a youth is able to make a decision an informed decision so they have said if there has to be an age maybe it could be 12 but they recommend no minimum age at all and one of the recent Witnesses also recommended uh made for severely disabled infants so not even not even the veneer of choice just yeah the parents decision to end the lives of their it was interesting garlic generous brought this up infant's side in the house recently and the

blowback that he got was absolutely and and and what's scary is that people say well yeah this is this seems this seems fine this is good this is Healthcare and it's really scary yeah yeah we've radically changed how we understand our duty of care how we understand medicine Health Care the legal system you know this has had such far-ranging implications um and what's you know for me as a parent if I put those two things together expansion to mature minors to people with mental illness alone I just I mean it just gives me chills even to even to say that and what we've consistently found at least here in Canada is that when you allow access to one group it has become very difficult

to deny it to others right and we've moved so much faster than other jurisdictions have in this regard the luge is not a is not a bad image for how things have gone here in Canada so with this expansion that is scheduled to take place in March is there anything that we can do Canadians can do the church can do is there anything we can do to stop it are they still talking about it or is it a definite go ahead so the law has passed so that is actually already legal but what they did was they put kind of a sunset clause or a two-year delay when the Le when the last legislation passed to kind of give time to to study and make sure we have everything in order and you know if you watch the

Committee hearing some of the MPS are asking that question they are saying are we ready for this have we you know is this a step we're ready to take so um I think it's really important for people to be informed I'm not sure people are really aware of where we're at with the laws and where we're headed so to those of you who are watching thank you um it's important that we know what's going on and then I think you know we can pray we can speak up yes and we can act you know we're not naive we know that it is going to take a miracle to Halt this expansion to mental health because it would require a reversal it would require you know um an amendment or something that would

either hit pause or reverse course so we need a really significant um expression of concern from constituents to their Member of Parliament that's excellent you know one of the things I want to talk to you prayer people one of our my biggest concerns is I go to events where leaders and pastors are there and many times we this is news to them where we are even though we've been pressing in on this for quite a few years EFC has been carrying this file for decades and it is it is just new material It's News and so could you pass this along be talking to your leaders be talking to your pastors about that track with us track with EFC track with the other organizations are

out there because we're not the only ones talking about this but what we find that pastors and leaders are not all hearing this so we need to get the news out so I'm just wondering if you have any last words um Before We Say Goodbye um um I you know I think one of the things that we're really thinking about internally and I'll let Beth talk about a resource we've been working on but I think in this where we kind of we're concerned about where we're headed but we also you know in this where we are at now moment um I think we really need the Heart of Jesus um because where people's lives are being you know discarded or devalued where they are not being supported or cared

for feeling isolated and lonely all of these things that are pushing people towards medical assistance and dying pretty sure Jesus is there and that his heart breaks and so we should also be there and our hearts should also be breaking and um you know we are called to care for those who are marginalized or oppressed and need the words pretty clear that we are to Advocate it talks about the widows and the orphans which to me we're talking about the marginalized those that are poor those that can't fend for themselves and we the church that's that's our job that's our mandate you know god-given mandate I've got to go off topic and off our notes and I'm going to put Marilyn on the spot but we

have a testimony um from one of our prayer leaders out in British Columbia and uh and their local church did something Maryland you want to share this with Maya had shared I don't remember all of the details but I know that there was a man in the hospital and he in Fort St John's British Columbia and uh the the chaplain got toward that this man was looking to to um to sign up for maid and so he went in to see this man and he talked with him he went to his that church and spoke to them about this man and they all decided that they were going to not only pray for him but they were going to come and visit him and talk with him he was able to get out and go to one of their Farms

to see the animals and and you know just things that he wouldn't have had to do I think what they did was they be they they became friends he found friends and what they did was they brought the hope and the love of Jesus when they came to him and asked him if he could set a date for maid his response was don't talk to me about that I now have a bucket list because I these are the things I want to do before I die yeah so so it was because of the love that they brought the love of Jesus that they brought he totally went uh 180 degrees and decided he no longer wanted me and this is the kind of stuff that you know that Julia is talking about this is this is this is what we when we

have the Heart of Jesus this is where we go and it doesn't matter what the law says if we the church are acting this way and and moving in this direction it doesn't matter what the law says they're going to choose life yeah it's interesting we have we've been Banting about with it and opposing acronym you know right now it's medical assistance and dying but Marilyn and I this actually came up on one of our prayer Our Zoom prayers our national Zoom calls and and we kind of modify it but how about my assistance in living what is my rule and to help those people that are that are discouraged that are at the brink where it just seems impossible now we as the body of Christ

we can step in and we need to pray that God would give us eyes to see and ears to hear so that we can be the hands and feet of Jesus my assistance in living that's great now there are also some other practical things that people can do so I I don't know if that was part of the resources that you were going to talk about yeah well at the EFC uh hearing about the the kind of ableism and discrimination against people with disabilities and recognizing that as churches we want to be places of welcome and belonging for people with disabilities um the EFC has been working on a resource to help kind of raise awareness among churches and help all of us reflect on whether we have barriers that prevent

people from being part of community life and to to kind of look at our attitudes and our accessibility so we're hoping that will be available soon for churches you know we so the question we've sort of been asking is okay we all of this is happening and we're understanding this reality what is our response yeah you know one of the things we we want and need people to do is to speak out to contact their MP but hopefully as hopefully all of us are doing that as we are speaking out and calling on our MPS to Halt this expansion to right this wrong to ensure that all Canadians regardless of health status uh diversibility social condition are provided with adequate care and support

that hopefully as we are doing that we are all also as individuals as families as Church communities um praying and considering what is our response what is our role yes in this moment and how can we intangible and concrete ways like you've like you've talked about with that example how can we step in yeah and support people that's awesome so I just wanted to make an announcement on December 1st at 11 A.M eastern time we're going to be partnering with EFC on a zoom prayer call which you're all invited to uh the zoom link will be posted below this video so I just want to say thank you Julia thank you Beth thank you from sharing this important information uh today um

and thank you everyone for joining us please share this video and we're Chris in Maryland from the national House of Prayer and we'll see you next time bye bye for now