Ninety disability and mental health organizations are calling for the federal government to permanently halt the expansion of medical assistance in dying to people whose sole condition is mental illness.<\/p>\n
The groups, including the Canadian Mental Health Association, Easter Seals Canada and Inclusion Canada, sent a letter earlier this month to Prime Minister Mark Carney, Justice Minister Sean Fraser and Health Minister Marjorie Michel, asking them to introduce legislation that prevents the expansion. A temporary pause on that expansion is due to expire next March. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge you not to legalize MAID for mental illness (short for medical assistance in dying in cases where mental illness is the sole underlying medical condition) in March of 2027,\u201d the letter, dated May 14, states. \u201cWe urge you to recommend that the mental illness \u2018exclusion\u2019 be made permanent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Opinion: An alarm bell is ringing on medically assisted death for mental illness<\/a><\/p>\n The letter also said that patients living with mental illness \u201cshould be provided with the supports and health care that they need to live dignified lives \u2013 not state facilitated access to suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n Parliamentarians on a special joint committee recently wrapped up hearings on expanding MAID, and are expected to share a report with their findings and recommendations in June. <\/p>\n Earlier this month, The Globe and Mail reported<\/a> that the Carney government is prepared to introduce legislation to delay the March timeline, should the committee recommend it. Sources also told The Globe the government expects the committee will make such a recommendation.<\/p>\n The Globe is not identifying the sources, who were not authorized to disclose the government\u2019s plans on the issue.<\/p>\n MAID, which has long been the subject of fierce debate, became legal in Canada in June, 2016, allowing Canadian patients whose deaths were deemed \u201creasonably foreseeable\u201d to seek the help of medical professionals to end their lives.<\/p>\n In 2021, the law was updated after a Quebec court decision to allow patients with incurable conditions such as multiple sclerosis to seek to end their lives.<\/p>\n At the same time, it was determined that patients whose sole underlying medical condition is mental illness would not be immediately eligible for MAID. Instead, an initial two-year temporary exclusion was put in place to allow for more time to study how MAID could be delivered to such patients.<\/p>\n The federal government has already delayed the expansion twice, and could do so again before the March 17 deadline, when Canada would begin permitting MAID for patients with mental illness. However, it would need to introduce a bill to do so. <\/p>\n Some legal scholars argue granting the procedure to patients with mental illness is in keeping with the original Supreme Court ruling that enshrined MAID as a Charter right.<\/p>\n But Moira Wilson, the president of Inclusion Canada, disagrees. Her organization was among the 90 that signed the letter to the federal government.<\/p>\n \u201cFamilies across Canada are deeply worried about what this expansion would mean for people already struggling to access adequate mental health care, housing, income supports and community services,\u201d she said in a statement. <\/p>\n Toronto resident Claire Brosseau, who lives with bipolar 1, a form of bipolar disorder, sees the issue from a different perspective.<\/p>\n She said there is a distinction between patients experiencing a mental health crisis and those, such as herself, who live with prolonged mental illness that is resistant to medical treatments. Bipolar 1 is a mental health condition that affects a person\u2019s mood, energy and thoughts, and is associated with significant disability and difficulties<\/a> in many areas of life, according to the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n