Canada suspends expansion of assisted dying to people with mental illness

Canada will indefinitely suspend plans to expand its medically assisted dying law to people whose sole condition is mental illness, Justice Minister Sean Fraser said on 7 October. Fraser said the decision followed a lack of consensus on who would be eligible. "While there is not a perfect consensus on this issue, we believe this is the correct approach at this particular time," he said.

The announcement means Canadians with mental illness as their sole condition will not be able to access assisted dying by March 2027 as previously planned. Fraser said the government will introduce a new law in the coming weeks that suspends the expansion indefinitely. The proposed legislation would also allow patients with a progressing incurable illness to consent to assisted dying before their health deteriorates to the point where they are unable to do so, but it would leave the final decision to individual provinces. Advanced requests are not currently legal under federal law, but are allowed in Quebec for those with serious and incurable illnesses.

Medically assisted dying, known in Canada as Maid, became legal in 2016 for people with terminal illnesses, who still account for the vast majority of cases. Following a court case in Quebec, it was expanded in 2021 to people with incurable conditions whose death was not imminent — a mechanism known in Canada as "track two" Maid.

A parliamentary panel earlier this year noted competing opinions on the issue but recommended that medically assisted dying should not be expanded. Fraser acknowledged this is an issue the Supreme Court could weigh on in the future. A federal case remains before the courts challenging the government's earlier decision to delay access to Maid for people with mental illness.

Supporters of extending the programme to those with mental illness alone argue that not doing so violates their constitutional rights and access to healthcare. Claire Brosseau, a woman with treatment resistant bipolar 1 disorder who is part of the federal court case, told the BBC earlier this year that euthanasia would offer her "a safe death".

Fraser said a lack of consensus in the medical community about whether certain mental illnesses are irremediable — meaning incurable — gives him "real cause for concern". The BBC also reported that some experts have raised concerns that Canada's assisted dying programme has become a tool to alleviate the suffering of people who would be better served by improved access to affordable housing and healthcare, rather than an option of last resort.