Next year, Canada plans on expanding medical suicide to those whose death isn’t in the foreseeable future<\/p>\n
Published Mar 18, 2026 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 2 minute read<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n You can save this article by registering for free here<\/a>. Or sign-in<\/a> if you have an account.<\/p>\n OTTAWA \u2014 With Canada set to expand its medical assistance in dying (MAID) regime to include mental illness as a sole condition, advocacy groups for disabled Canadians are sounding the alarm.<\/p>\n Advertisement 2<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY<\/p>\n Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.<\/p>\n Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.<\/p>\n SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES<\/p>\n Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.<\/p>\n Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.<\/p>\n REGISTER \/ SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.<\/p>\n THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authors<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n In 2021, Canada removed the requirement that death<\/a> had to be \u201creasonably foreseeable\u201d to qualify for MAID.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Canada plans to expand eligibility criteria on March 17, 2027, to what the current framework refers to as \u201ctrack two\u201d \u2014 individuals seeking to commit medical suicide whose death is not a reasonable outcome in the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n Violates rights of the disabled: Report<\/p>\n Currently, only patients under \u201ctrack one\u201d of the framework are eligible for MAID \u2014 those suffering from a terminal illness or whose natural death is approaching.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a concern for Inclusion Canada CEO Krista Carr, who told the Toronto Sun that incorporating track two patients into the framework poses a danger to the disabled.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen (Canadians) think about medical assistance in dying, they think about their friend who has stage four cancer and suffering intolerably, and wants to control the timing of an already imminent death,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Your Midday Sun<\/p>\n Thanks for signing up!<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Advertisement 3<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n \u201cTrack two is very different than that \u2014 and so we believe, and the United Nations agrees with us, that track two means a violation of the rights of persons with disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, a report authored last March<\/a> by the United Nations\u2019 Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities urged Canada to reverse course on track two, concerned that legislation that equates significant disability with eligibility for therapeutic suicide violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Easy access to medical suicide puts vulnerable Canadians at risk: Expert<\/p>\n <\/a> MAID framework creating ‘significant dangers’ for young Canadians: Expert<\/p>\n <\/a>Little nation-wide oversight of MAID<\/p>\n Although MAID isn\u2019t included by Statistics Canada\u2019s annual list of common causes of death, the government\u2019s own numbers indicate that 16,499 Canadians died via MAID in 2024.<\/p>\n Advertisement 4<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n That made MAiD the year\u2019s fourth most common cause of death, ranking between accidents (20,260) and strokes (13,725.)<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you look at track 2 MAID, you\u2019ll see disproportionately women, disproportionately people that live in low socioeconomic circumstances, over 50% reported feeling like they were a burden to their family, it just goes on and on,\u201d Carr said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were told that we were fear mongering, that this would never happen, and our medical system is more sophisticated than that and we\u2019ve got safeguards \u2014 that\u2019s simply untrue, there\u2019s no oversight for any of it.\u201d<\/p>\n While Ontario\u2019s office of the chief coroner established a MAID Death Review Committee (MDRC) two years ago, that isn\u2019t the case Canada-wide \u2014 not to mention cases of Ontarians doctor-shopping out-of-province after being denied therapeutic suicide<\/a> in this province.<\/p>\n Advertisement 5<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Carr recalls the 2022 case of a Toronto woman named Sophie who opted for medically-supervised death after being unable to find affordable housing to accommodate her disability \u2014 a case Karr says indicates Canada\u2019s well past the slippery slope.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is going to make living life with a disability so more more stigmatized, because now we actually have a characteristic which is grounds by which to terminate life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have an advocate in our movement who will often say that track one MAID is to escape a painful death, while track two is made to escape a painful life. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the kind of country Canada prides itself on being.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Centre](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/DSC_8206-scaled-e1748266144598.jpg\")
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