A Bloc Quebecois MP wants to make it legal for Canadians to commit assisted suicide.

"It is a right of human persons to have that right," Francine Lalonde told CTV News.

She has taken up the cause after being motivated by watching the constant suffering of a friend who died of cancer.

"She would have liked to have her children, her grandchildren, taken her hands and say, 'that's it, goodbye, I'm leaving, I had a good life and that's over'," Lalonde said.

The issue of assisted suicide first appeared on the Canadian agenda in the early 1990s when Sue Rodriguez, crippled by ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, fought unsuccessfully up to the Supreme Court of Canada for the right to die.

Rodriguez ended up committing medically-assisted suicide in 1994.

Under Lalonde's bill, to be tabled Monday, assisted suicide would be allowed for anyone over 18 who suffers from a terminal illness and who expresses the wish to die, twice, in writing, at least 10 days apart.

Despite that, some legislators like Conservative Steven Fletcher worry some might decide too soon.

"Like when you're in pain, you just want it to stop," said the Manitoba MP.

Fletcher knows something about suffering. He became a quadraplegic nine years ago after an automobile collision with a moose.

"My lungs had collapsed and I thought I was going to drown in my own phlegm," he recalled.

Fletcher isn't the only person in Parliament to have personal experience with the issue.

Justice Minister Irwin Cotler's mother died recently after two years of suffering. "This is a very painful thing, and there are competing perspectives on both sides of the issue," he said.

Private opposition members' bills are rarely passed by Parliament.

But CTV's Roger Smith said supporters assisted suicide hope the move will at least re-open the national debate.

With a report from CTV's Roger Smith