‘Trojan horse’: Group campaigns to legalize assisted dying for mental illness in Canada

Dying with Dignity is attempting to allow assisted dying for mental illness in Canada, even though the government has delayed inclusion of it in its Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) program.

At the end of 2022, Canadian lawmakers chose to slow down the implementation of an already-passed law, allowing people with a diagnosis of mental illness alone to qualify for MAiD. “At the end of the day we want to be prudent, we want to move in a step-by-step way, so we don’t make mistakes,” Justice Minister David Lametti said in a press conference at the time. “We know we need to get this right in order to protect those who are vulnerable.”

The law is now scheduled to take effect in 2027. But for Dying with Dignity, that’s too far away.

The Canadian Press reported that Dying with Dignity has filed a petition on behalf of John Scully, a veteran who struggles with PTSD. “In the last 36 hours, I’ve had four hours (of) sleep,” he said in a recent interview. “And the sleep is polluted with nasty, vicious nightmares. I feel it’s incumbent on me to rattle whatever cage I can, to say, not ‘Look at me,’ but ‘Look at us.’ For God’s sake. Do something about it.”

A third plaintiff, Claire Elyse Brosseau, is also listed on the application. They claim that not allowing people with mental illness to access MAiD is discriminatory, and violates Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which says people have the right to life, liberty and security. “The fact that they have been forced to wait and then given a promise and given a promise and given a promise — that’s what makes it so difficult for them to continue to soldier on and wait for an assessment,” Helen Long, president and CEO of Dying with Dignity Canada. “They’re owed that ability to apply.”

In the press release, Dying with Dignity claimed that 82% of Canadians support allowing people with mental illness access MAiD.

READ: ‘Healthcare serial killers’: Man whose father died by assisted death in Canada warns New York against it

Despite the law not yet including the allowance, people with mental illness have already been killed through the MAiD program, without diagnosis of a terminal illness. Sharon Danley’s son, Matthew, was killed in 2021, though Danley had assumed that Matthew’s long history of mental illness would disqualify him. But because he was born with several birth defects, all of which were manageable, he was approved.

Danley said it isn’t right how easily people are able to be killed, despite what Dying with Dignity claims. “What I have a concern about with MAiD is how many more amendments are coming,” she said. “It’s a Trojan horse, and there will be more and more and more stuff coming out of that horse.”

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