Canadian law currently states that from 17 March 2027, people will be able to access euthanasia and assisted suicide (“Medical Assistance in Dying” or “MAID”) solely on the basis of mental illness. This has caused ongoing concern among the psychiatric community and beyond, prompting multiple postponements.
On Wednesday, Justice Minister Sean Fraser announced that:
“Canada has made a decision not to move forward with the expansion that is scheduled in the Criminal Code of medical assistance in dying in circumstances where mental illness is the sole basis.”
This development is a huge relief and a commendable victory for those who have been fighting against this latest expansion, with Fraser conceding “very real concerns about people who were living [in] communities with inadequate access to mental health services.”
Some headlines, however, perhaps oversimplified matters.
That same day, Canada’s MPs voted down a Private Member’s Bill which would have permanently excluded mental illness as a sole basis for MAiD; they now await the draft legislation which will exclude mental illness “on an indeterminate basis.”
More than this:
‘The same bill will remove federal barriers to advance requests, allowing provinces and territories to establish their own regimes for people diagnosed with conditions such as dementia.
‘Pro-life advocate Amanda Achtman accused the government of deliberately joining two distinct policies in one bill.
‘“The Liberal government is incredibly sly,” Achtman wrote on X. “They intend to table a bill banning death for depression while expanding death for dementia.”
‘“Those properly opposed to euthanasia will not be able to support this bill, despite having campaigned for months to stop MAID for mental illness.”’
Even without either expansion, MAiD already accounts for more than 1-in-20 deaths in Canada.
