Canadaupdated 1h ago3 min read
Canada Indefinitely Suspends MAID Expansion For People With Sole Mental Illness
Canada will indefinitely bar MAID for those whose sole condition is mental illness. Legislation will be introduced this fall to maintain the ban and not expand eligibility.
MAID expansion shelved
Canada indefinitely suspended plans to expand medically assisted dying to people whose sole condition is mental illness, Justice Minister Sean Fraser said on Wednesday, citing a lack of consensus on who would be eligible. Fraser told reporters that Canadians with mental illness as their sole condition will not be able to access assisted dying by March 2027 as previously planned, and the government will instead introduce a new law in the coming weeks that suspends that expansion indefinitely. Fraser said the proposed legislation will also allow patients who have a progressing incurable illness to consent to assisted dying before their health deteriorates to the point where they are unable to do so, while leaving the final decision up to individual provinces.
Fraser said, "while there is not a perfect consensus on this issue, we believe this is the correct approach at this particular time," as the government moved to reverse the planned expansion. The BBC also said medically assisted dying became legal in Canada in 2016 for people with terminal illnesses, who still account for the vast majority of cases.
Parliamentary panel and court
Canada’s decision followed a parliamentary panel earlier this year that recommended medically assisted dying should not be expanded to people whose sole condition is mental illness, and the BBC said a federal case remains before the courts challenging the government’s earlier decision to delay access to Maid for people with mental illness. Fraser acknowledged the issue is one that the Supreme Court could weigh on in the future, and the BBC said the government’s announcement means the planned March 2027 expansion will not proceed. Ottawa introduced legislation this fall to indefinitely extend the ban on access to medically assisted death for people who are solely suffering from mental illness, and he said the decision reflects the position expressed by a special parliamentary committee report released in June.
Fraser said, "While there is not a perfect consensus on this issue, we believe this is the correct approach at this particular time," as he justified the government’s approach. The legislation would open the door for people to give advance consent for their own medically assisted death when their illness will eventually eliminate their capacity to make that decision.
Advance requests and debate
The government’s new approach would also allow advance requests for assisted dying, and the BBC said advanced requests are currently legal in Quebec for those with serious and incurable illnesses. Provinces would decide whether to offer advance requests, and Alberta has already said it will not permit advance requests. Conservative MP Tamara Jansen accused Fraser of playing games "hours before" the House of Commons was set to vote on her bill, and she said, "We have no idea what his bill's going to say.
Jansen’s bill, C-218, was defeated 187 to 141 on Wednesday afternoon, with the Conservatives, NDP and the Green Party's Elizabeth May voting for the bill and Bloc Québécois and most Liberals voting against. The BBC said advocacy group Dying with Dignity called the decision "profoundly disappointing," and it quoted Helen Long saying, "We anticipate that a very small number of individuals with severe and persistent mental illness would be eligible for Maid under this criterion, but their suffering is no less real than those who live with physical illnesses,".