OTTAWA - Her battle with cancer still ongoing, Bloc Quebecois MP Francine Lalonde might be forgiven for not wanting to talk about death every day.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Lalonde, 67, is pushing ahead with plans to force the House of Commons to relaunch the debate on assisted suicide.
Lalonde returned to Parliament Hill two weeks ago and, seeing her in person, it's hard to believe she was battling a tenacious cancer just two months ago.
The disease she battled was more threatening than the cancer she fought back in 2006 -- but it's under control.
Lalonde knows, however, it might not have disappeared forever and that the top-notch treatment she received should give her between eight and 10 years of good health.
"I still have this deadly disease,'' she said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
"Just when I thought I had beaten the cancer, I was suddenly hit with the reality that this cancer was in me.
"And this could happen to anybody. Myeloma... is a cancer that can lead to a very painful death.''
Lalonde began to come to terms a few years ago with the idea of death and has since transformed it into a personal battle.
In 2005, a healthy Lalonde sparked a House of Commons debate on the delicate question of assisted suicide by bringing forward a bill on the subject.
After a few hours of debate in Parliament, the bill vanished and did not make it to the committee stage when a general election was called.
But the Bloc MP never gave up and she now wants to reintroduce the bill, which she believes is more necessary than ever.
Her bill would amend the Criminal Code to allow, under specific conditions, seriously ill people to end their lives.
Lalonde says she is not bringing the assisted suicide debate back to the forefront because of her own experience, but because of events in Quebec over the last few years.
In 2004, Marielle Houle helped her 36-year-old son, who suffered from a degenerative disease, to cut short his suffering.
The following year, Andre Bergeron of Sherbrooke gave in to the wishes of his chronically ill wife and helped her commit suicide.
More recently, there has been the case of Stephan Dufour, who is embroiled in legal proceedings after playing a role in the death of his wheelchair-bound uncle.
Lalonde believes such cases should be a wake-up call.
She also doesn't understand why people opposed to her bill continue to fear it would lead to widespread abuse when international studies suggest that assisted suicide does not result in a disproportionate number of deaths of elderly people or those who are vulnerable.
"I am not worried about abuse,'' she said. "I am worried, however, about what is going on in Quebec. People are suffering and can't find help and they are putting moral pressure on people they know to help them die. I find that a slippery slope.''
Lalonde is expecting the kind of opposition she faced in 2005 but notes that would be consistent with what happens when the divisive topic is debated in other countries.
