The Ontario Superior Court of Justice must consider findings from a parliamentary committee that advised that medical assistance in dying be disallowed for patients whose sole medical condition is mental illness, a lawyer for the federal Attorney-General said Tuesday. <\/p>\n
Joseph Cheng, senior counsel for the Attorney-General of Canada, addressed the committee\u2019s report during court proceedings in Toronto on a motion filed for \u201cemergency relief\u201d for a 49-year-old patient living with persistent mental illness. <\/p>\n
Claire Brosseau\u2019s legal pursuit to die by MAID underscores a contentious policy debate over whether patients with mental illness should be able to have medical help to end their lives.<\/p>\n
Ms. Brosseau, who sued Ottawa alongside advocacy organization Dying With Dignity Canada in August, 2024, for barring MAID access to patients with mental illness, has lived with bipolar disorder for 35 years. <\/p>\n
She is seeking an exemption from the court, which would apply only to her, to die by MAID, at a time when the procedure remains against the law for patients living with mental illness. Despite trying several medical interventions, she said she endures \u201cconstant pain and unrelenting torment.\u201d <\/p>\n
Lawyer for woman seeking MAID for mental illness asks court to ignore parliamentary report<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAlmost two years after I filed my lawsuit, the government has yet to respond to me or meet any of their deadlines,\u201d Ms. Brosseau said in a statement Tuesday. <\/p>\n \u201cBecause of their continued inaction, I\u2019ve been forced to go to court again. In wanting to access MAID, I\u2019m not taking the easy way out. I\u2019ve lived most of my life with a severe and persistent mental illness.\u201d <\/p>\n MAID access for patients with mental illness is currently set to take effect in March, 2027, but the timeline could change if the federal government introduces legislation to do so. <\/p>\n In May, three sources told The Globe and Mail that the government is open to introducing such a bill. <\/p>\n Mr. Cheng said Tuesday that Parliament\u2019s engagement \u201cunderscores why what is being asked of this court falls well outside of the institutional role of the court.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cParliament is currently deciding how it will respond to the report and what it will do with the mental illness exclusion,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Crucial decision in MAID debate looms<\/a><\/p>\n In 2021, the country\u2019s MAID law was expanded<\/a> after a Quebec Superior Court decision two years earlier found a requirement in the original law that patients\u2019 deaths be reasonably foreseeable, to be unconstitutional. The federal government did not challenge the court decision.<\/p>\n The amended law expanded criteria, allowing for patients with incurable conditions to seek to end their lives, known as \u201ctrack two\u201d MAID. A two-year temporary exclusion was put in place to give time to study the delivery of MAID for patients with mental illness, but implementation has been twice delayed.<\/p>\n This spring, a parliamentary committee held hearings to examine Canada\u2019s readiness for MAID for patients with mental illness. <\/p>\n Last month, a majority of members produced a report that said they heard \u201csignificant complexities and risks, grave concerns and deep divisions that continue to accompany this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n On Monday, Ms. Brosseau\u2019s lawyer, Michael Fenrick, argued the report from a majority of members on a parliamentary committee should not be considered, adding its findings do not reflect the will of Parliament.<\/p>\n