Disabled advocates want MPs to turn down assisted suicide bill
By Laura Stone, Canwest News ServiceNovember 2, 2009

Photograph by: File, CNSOTTAWA — In the wake of quadriplegic Conservative MP Steven Fletcher's public statement outlining his decision to abstain from voting on a bill to legalize assisted suicide, disabled advocates in Canada say they want all MPs to vote against the bill.

The consensus among many who champion disabled people's rights is that no one — including the government — should have the power to decide when someone's life should end.

"We've asked all MPs — and Steven included — to take a stronger view and vote no," said Laurie Beachell, national co-ordinator for the Council of Canadians with Disabilities.
"We do believe it would put people with disabilities at risk."

Fletcher, who was elected to Parliament in 2004, was instantly paralyzed when he hit a moose on a Manitoba highway in 1996. At first, he was told he would live out his life in an institution. He was 23.

In an opinion piece in Monday's National Post, Fletcher, now 37, said that while he will not support to Bill C-384 — which would legalize medically assisted suicide — he won't be voting no, either, because he "cannot vote against empowering Canadians to make deeply personal decisions for themselves."

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Source: Inclusif 552

You can also read Steven Fletcher's opinion about this assisted suicide bill published in the National Post

network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/11/02/steven-fletcher-make-life-the-first-choice-but-not-the-only-choice.aspx