The federal government will introduce legislation this fall that will indefinitely extend the ban on medical assistance in dying for individuals whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness, Justice Minister Sean Fraser announced on Wednesday. Speaking in the foyer of the House of Commons, Fraser stated that Canada has decided against moving forward with the scheduled Criminal Code expansion. This decision aligns with the findings of a special parliamentary committee report released in June and internal departmental reviews. While acknowledging a lack of complete consensus, Fraser emphasized that this remains the correct approach at this time. The upcoming legislation will also allow advance consent for medically assisted death in cases where an incurable illness eventually strips an individual of their decision-making capacity. Fraser pointed to two primary motivators for indefinitely extending the mental illness exclusion: inadequate access to mental health services in certain communities and persistent uncertainty regarding when a mental illness can be deemed truly incurable. Canada originally passed MAID legislation in 2016, but the Superior Court of Quebec struck down the requirement that a natural death be reasonably foreseeable in 2019. Subsequent legislation, including Bill C-7 passed in March 2021, removed that requirement while temporarily delaying the mental illness expansion through multiple extensions. Fraser made the announcement ahead of a vote on Conservative private member’s bill C-218, introduced by MP Tamara Jansen. While thanking Jansen, Fraser explained that the government opposed the bill because its use of the term ‘mental disorders’ could unintentionally encompass neurologically degenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, and it failed to address advance consent. Jansen criticized the announcement as political maneuvering regarding a bill that has not yet been formally tabled, urging Liberal MPs to support her proposal to protect vulnerable Canadians.
Source: cbc.ca
