Government PLANS to delay expansion of MAID for mental illness
15 December 2022
Ottawa, ON – Today, the federal government announced that it intends to delay the expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAID) for mental illness.
Acknowledging the concerns of “experts and Canadians” that more time is needed, the government announced that it will work with “parliamentary colleagues in the House of Commons and the Senate to negotiate an extension of the March 17, 2023 eligibility date. This will require the introduction of legislation when the House of Commons and Senate returns in January.”
Christian Legal Fellowship’s Executive Director Derek Ross comments:
“CLF welcomes the government’s decision and acknowledgment that Canada is not ready for this expansion. At the same time, it is important to recognize that simply re-scheduling the expansion of MAID for mental illness will not address the underlying concerns that many have raised about its potentially devastating impact. We must do more to support Canadians with mental illness, and offer meaningful medical assistance in living. Still, today’s announcement represents an important step in the right direction, and we appreciate the government’s willingness to take more time to listen to these concerns.”
Background
Although a mental illness does not currently qualify as an “illness, disease, or disability” for the purposes of MAID eligibility, this was scheduled to change on March 17, 2023 due to a “sunset clause” in Bill C-7, which passed in 2020.
CLF expressed grave concerns about this expansion, as did health care groups, disability rights advocates, legal commenters, and other organizations. These concerns have been emphasized by troubling reports about persons with disabilities being driven to view MAID as their only “solution” to escape poverty, and veterans being proactively offered MAID when seeking help for medical conditions. Clinicians also expressed reservations about their readiness for this expansion, and the Association of Chairs of Psychiatry in Canada (composed of the heads of psychiatry of Canada’s 17 medical schools) recently called for a postponement of the new regime.
Next steps
When asked if there was a possibility that MAID for mental illness could be halted altogether, the Minister of Justice replied that the government was only seeking to “delay” the coming into force of the sunset clause, without committing to “a particular period of time” for the extension.
Throughout the Bill C-7 legislative consultations and Special Joint Parliamentary Committee’s study of MAID for mental illness, CLF highlighted concerns surrounding compliance with existing safeguards and human rights obligations, patients’ lack of access to viable healthcare and supports in hundreds of MAID deaths to date, and ongoing socioeconomic barriers which effectively undermine any notion of “autonomy” for many who might receive MAID. As CLF explained in its Parliamentary brief:
By offering death as a “solution” for more conditions and forms of suffering, and by expanding eligibility in more circumstances, MAID is undergoing a radical transformation in Canada. It is evolving from an exceptional procedure to hasten an already-foreseeable death, to a widely-available option to terminate a person’s life because they have lost their sense of hope and meaning.
(You can read CLF’s brief here and background paper here).
CLF will continue to advocate for the interests of marginalized Canadians, and communicate these concerns to Parliamentarians as they explore legislative proposals in the weeks ahead.
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For additional information, please contact:
office@christianlegalfellowship.org