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A Forum Research survey of 2,271 Canadians on June 7 defined advance consent as “when someone leaves explicit legal instructions for their assisted death in the event they become incompetent and can’t make their wishes known themselves.”

It then asked, “Do you approve or disapprove of allowing assisted death for those who have signed advance consent, but may not be able to communicate their wishes?”

A full 74 per cent agreed, even slightly more than the 72 per cent who said they support assisted death.

“We have known for years Canadians favour assisted dying. It is clear from these findings that they don’t want to deny this right to those who can’t, in the end, speak for themselves” said Forum Research President Lorne Bozinoff.

The debate over Bill C-14 has been fraught, with a government motion seeking to limit debate sparking a literal kerfuffle on the floor of the house of commons.

This week, the Senate is moving to drastically alter the bill as it was written by the Liberals and introduced by Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould. The minister had said advanced directives required further study, but the Senate has an amendment up for debate this week that would add it into C-14 now.

This comes after Senators already moved to drastically alter the legislation’s definition of who is eligible for assisted death. While the government had wanted to limit the procedure to those whose death was “reasonably foreseeable,” the Senate voted this week to alter the bill to better mirror the Supreme Court’s language. That means, unless the House of Commons votes to overrule the Senate’s alterations, anyone with “a grievous and irremediable medical condition” and “enduring suffering” would be eligible. That’s the definition sought by “dying with dignity” advocates, but by some of Bill C-14’s opponents has been considered a step too far.