A joint parliamentary committee of Canada’s House and Senate recommended Wednesday that the country indefinitely exclude people whose sole medical condition is a mental illness from eligibility for medical assistance in dying, known as MAID. The 98-page report is the product of hearings held earlier this year in which medical experts, advocates, and European officials testified about Canada’s current assisted dying scheme and the potential impact of its expansion.
The committee’s single recommendation states that Canada “indefinitely exclude persons whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness from eligibility for medical assistance in dying.” The report acknowledged “a divergence of perspectives” on the issue and noted a recurring theme in testimony: the “pressing need for increased and more equitable access to adequate mental health services.”
Some committee members disagreed with the findings and published a dissenting report, calling the process “fundamentally flawed,” “biased,” and favoring testimony from those opposed to the expansion. “When you have bad inputs, you have bad outputs,” Kristopher Wells, a dissenting senator from Alberta, told the BBC. “That is why we’re calling into question the reliability and the credibility of the report and the recommendation.”
Canada first delayed eligibility for MAID for people suffering solely from a mental illness in 2023, citing concerns that the health system was not ready. A second delay pushed the planned expansion to March 17, 2027. The government also recommended a parliamentary committee undertake a comprehensive review, which led to the hearings.
The Conservative opposition hailed the recommendation. “Moving forward with this expansion is reckless and dangerous,” said Conservative MP Tamara Jansen. She called for the expansion to be “permanently repealed.” The dissenting senators argued the matter should be decided by the Supreme Court.
Dr. Sonu Gaind, a University of Toronto professor who testified to the panel against expanding MAID for mental illness, told the BBC that doing so “would have started providing death to suicidal people struggling with mental illness who could have gotten better.” “Assessors cannot predict when a mental illness won’t improve, in fact flipping a coin would be more accurate,” he added.
There are several legal challenges against Canada’s mental illness exemption, including one launched by Claire Brousseau, a 49-year-old Toronto woman with bipolar disorder and PTSD who wants access to MAID. She told the BBC she was not surprised by the committee’s recommendation but hopes her legal challenge will succeed. “Every time they delay it, people like me live it in real time. Those are days and years that we suffer,” Brousseau said.
Canada first allowed medically assisted dying for terminally ill adults whose death was “reasonably foreseeable” in 2016, after a successful Supreme Court challenge. Three years later, following a Quebec court battle, it was extended to people with chronic illnesses whose natural death is not imminent. According to 2024 figures, MAID makes up about 5% of all deaths in Canada. About 96% of MAID requests were granted to people whose death was foreseeable, mostly terminal cancer patients; the remaining 4% were patients whose death was not imminent but who had a “grievous and irremediable medical condition.”
A poll by the Angus Reid firm earlier this month found that about 77% of Canadians support MAID in general, but support fell to 42% when asked about allowing access for those whose sole condition is a mental illness.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has not taken a public position on the matter. The government must respond to the committee report by July 11.