{"id":714057,"date":"2026-06-19T18:37:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T18:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/714057\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T18:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T18:37:12","slug":"co-chair-of-maid-committee-defends-recommendation-to-shelve-procedure-for-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/714057\/","title":{"rendered":"Co-chair of MAID committee defends recommendation to shelve procedure for mental health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Medical Assistance in Dying committee co-chair Marcus Powlowski speaks with reporters in the foyer of the House of Commons on Wednesday.Adrian Wyld\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The co-chair of the parliamentary committee that recommended those with mental illness should have no access to medical assistance in dying said there should be greater scrutiny on how the system is working now. <\/p>\n

Liberal MP Marcus Powlowski told The Globe and Mail in an interview Thursday that the committee\u2019s conclusion that MAID should not be extended for mental illness was based partly on concerns about how the procedure is currently delivered to those whose death is not reasonably foreseeable. <\/p>\n

Justice Minister Sean Fraser said Thursday he will review the committee\u2019s recommendation and the evidence. The committee was not unanimous.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue couldn\u2019t be more personal, it couldn\u2019t be more serious, and I intend to take the time to get it right over the summer,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n

When MAID first became available 10 years ago, it was offered only to those whose natural death was imminent, so-called Track 1 cases. Later, eligibility for the procedure was extended to those with an incurable condition. There are far fewer of these Track 2 cases.<\/p>\n

Mr. Powlowski said there may be people in Track 2 who ought to be able to have MAID. \u201cBut, I think the whole regime, the whole regulatory process, ought to be re-examined.\u201d <\/p>\n

MAID was expanded to that cohort in 2021, following a Superior Court of Quebec decision. However, the federal government delayed making access available to patients whose sole underlying condition is mental illness until 2023. Then they moved the implementation to 2024 and then to March 17, 2027.<\/p>\n

The joint House of Commons and Senate committee of 17 was tasked with studying the issue ahead of the implementation deadline. <\/p>\n

The committee started reviewing the matter in March and heard from 44 witnesses and received 32 written briefs, in addition to other correspondence. <\/p>\n

Though the committee considered recommending another delay, their majority recommendation was that the Criminal Code be amended to \u201cindefinitely exclude\u201d people whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness. <\/p>\n

Mr. Powlowski said there was no point in delaying again. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it would be very useful to, in two or three years, reopen this, because I don\u2019t think anything\u2019s going to change in two or three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Powlowski said all MPs have heard stories, as did the committee during its study, from families frustrated by how easily their loved ones seemed to be able to access MAID under Track 2 parameters.<\/p>\n

The Globe and Mail has reported on some of those stories, including a man who was assessed for MAID in a Tim Hortons parking lot. <\/p>\n

Ontario doctor cautioned over MAID complaints can continue practice under supervision, regulator rules<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Powlowski said in his view, the law as it is now is fairly permissive and some physicians assessing for MAID have \u201ca fairly cavalier attitude towards taking a life.\u201d <\/p>\n

He is also concerned about a lack of transparency around disciplinary actions for physicians found to have improperly provided MAID, citing the refusal of some colleges that oversee physicians to appear before the committee. <\/p>\n

Tamara Jansen, one of the Conservative MPs on the committee, also said the entire regime should be re-examined. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe heard a lot of testimony that there are challenges in the system as it stands, and so then we think it\u2019s really wise to review how things are actually working at this time,\u201d Ms. Jansen said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

To further delay or cancel the expansion of access, a new law would be required. <\/p>\n

Concerns about MAID in Canada extend beyond some MPs. <\/p>\n

Earlier this spring, Alberta passed legislation to bar those with incurable conditions, but whose deaths are not reasonably foreseeable, from access to MAID. The same law also bars MAID for mental illness. <\/p>\n

In March, 2025, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities also recommended<\/a> that Ottawa repeal MAID for anyone without a terminal illness. <\/p>\n

The UN committee said its main reason was that \u201cinequality and discrimination cause and compound \u2018suffering\u2019 for persons with disabilities,\u201d and that inadequate social supports can lead them to disproportionately seek advance requests for MAID.<\/p>\n

The disability rights group Inclusion Canada has also called for the government to repeal MAID in Track 2 cases.<\/p>\n

While the Liberal and Conservative MPs on the parliamentary review committee were unanimous in the recommendation not to expand MAID, the Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois MP dissented. Four senators also disagreed. <\/p>\n

The senators said the question of MAID eligibility for patients with mental illness should be referred to the Supreme Court of Canada. <\/p>\n

They also criticized the committee process as \u201cfundamentally flawed, highly irregular, biased, and lacking the evidentiary rigour required to inform policy on such a consequential issue of societal importance.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr. Powlowski defended the committee\u2019s work, saying the witness list was drafted in accordance with long-standing rules on how committees operate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Medical Assistance in Dying committee co-chair Marcus Powlowski speaks with reporters in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[2428,2416,2429,4,2408,2430,103,2407,2422,2423,2418,2409,2406,101,526,192,2421,2414,2441,2410,2411,2420,97,2417,149,983,2431,259,260,2413,2436,2437,2439,2434,2438,2432,2435,2412,2425,2426,111,2424,2433,2415,74,2427,2419,194,965,2440],"class_list":["post-714057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-health","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}