{"id":775032,"date":"2026-07-21T02:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T02:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/775032\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T02:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T02:40:08","slug":"lawyer-for-woman-seeking-maid-for-mental-illness-asks-court-to-ignore-parliamentary-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/775032\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawyer for woman seeking MAID for mental illness asks court to ignore parliamentary report"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Claire Brosseau, pictured in Toronto in June, was diagnosed with a form of bipolar disorder more than three decades ago. She is seeking an exemption that would allow her to access MAID for mental illness.Deborah Baic\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

The lawyer for a mentally ill woman who wants a medically assisted death urged an Ontario judge on Monday to ignore the findings of a parliamentary committee that concluded last month that Canada\u2019s MAID laws should not be extended to those whose only health condition is a mental illness. <\/p>\n

Toronto lawyer Michael Fenrick was speaking in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to represent Claire Brosseau, a 49-year-old who has shared details<\/a> about her 35-year struggle with bipolar 1, a form of bipolar disorder. She has tried a number of medical interventions that she said have not eased persistent suffering. <\/p>\n

Ms. Brosseau cannot currently access MAID legally because it is not available for patients with mental illness as their sole medical condition, sparking her motion for \u201cemergency relief\u201d in court in May. She is seeking an exemption that would apply only to her and would allow MAID access, despite the law. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis motion was brought on an urgent basis,\u201d Mr. Fenrick told court on Monday. <\/p>\n

MAID access for patients whose sole underlying condition is mental illness is currently facing scrutiny, from politicians and advocacy groups. Canada\u2019s MAID laws are set to be expanded to include those patients in March, 2027. <\/p>\n

Last month, however, a parliamentary committee looking into the expansion of the law released a report with the majority of its members advising against MAID access<\/a> for patients with mental illness and urging the government to intervene. The report said members heard about \u201csignificant complexities and risks, grave concerns and deep divisions that continue to accompany this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four senators issued dissenting opinions, calling for the matter to be referred to the Supreme Court of Canada. The four also critiqued the committee\u2019s process, calling it \u201cfundamentally flawed\u201d and lacking \u201cevidentiary rigour required to inform policy on such a consequential issue of societal importance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal government is working on its response to the committee\u2019s report. <\/p>\n

Opinion: The MAID committee got it right on mental illness. But Parliament must go further<\/a><\/p>\n

In May, three sources told The Globe and Mail that the government was open to drafting legislation<\/a> that would amend the March, 2027, implementation timeline. The Globe did not identify the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the government\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney has since said an expansion of the country\u2019s MAID law will be a government decision<\/a>. He was asked at a June news conference on his view on expanding access for patients with mental illness. \u201cIt\u2019s a question of the rights of Canadians, and the evidence is medical \u2013 based on expert advice,” he said. <\/p>\n

Mr. Fenrick told court on Monday that the June parliamentary-committee report does not express Parliament\u2019s will, adding he would prefer to forget it because \u201cthat\u2019s about as much weight as it should be given in the proceeding.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said Quebec Superior Court Justice Christine Baudouin considered evidence, including from a variety of psychiatrists, when making her decision. In September, 2019, in Truchon v. Canada, the court declared unconstitutional<\/a> the \u201creasonable foreseeability of natural death\u201d eligibility criteria in federal MAID legislation.<\/p>\n

MAID first became legal a decade ago, in June of 2016, but the law established access for Canadians whose deaths were deemed \u201creasonably foreseeable.\u201d <\/p>\n

In 2021, the federal government expanded<\/a> the MAID law in response to Justice Baudouin\u2019s 2019 decision in the Quebec Superior Court. It allowed patients with incurable conditions to seek to end their lives, establishing what is commonly referred to as \u201ctrack two\u201d MAID.<\/p>\n

A two-year temporary exclusion was put in place to allow more time to study the delivery of MAID in this area, but the federal government delayed its implementation twice since then.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always been intended to be a temporary exclusion,\u201d Mr. Fenrick said. \u201cParliament\u2019s intention is expressed in the law as it stands.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said at present, the exclusion will be repealed in March, 2027, and no other safeguards will apply other than what is in place for track two. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the court is expected to hear from intervenors with opposing arguments including Inclusion Canada, a disability-rights organization opposed to an expansion of MAID for patients with mental illness as well as track two.<\/p>\n

The organization said in a statement that the motion is asking the Ontario Superior Court to authorize a death, in the case of Ms. Brosseau, that no trial or later judgment can undo.<\/p>\n

\u201cConstitutional questions this big should be decided on full evidence, after a full hearing,\u201d said its chief executive officer Krista Carr.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Claire Brosseau, pictured in Toronto in June, was diagnosed with a form of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":775033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260,13849],"class_list":["post-775032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-pleasemod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775032","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=775032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}