Canadian parliamentary committee warns against expanding 'assisted dying'

A parliamentary committee will make a recommendation that the government stop the expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAiD) to include mental illness in Canada.

Key Takeaways:

• MAiD is expected to expand to include mental illness in 2027, though legislation has been introduced to stop it.

• 5% of all deaths in Canada are currently due to MAiD.

• The Special Parliamentary Euthanasia Committee voted to recommend against a government expansion of MAiD to include mental illness.

The Backstory:

Since its legalization, deaths from MAiD have climbed to five percent (5%) of all deaths in Canada, with over a fifth of applicants claiming “isolation or loneliness” as reasons for their request to die.

Canada is on track to reach 100,000 deaths from euthanasia and assisted suicide in just a decade.

Reports show that people have been offered MAiD for reasons like poverty, homelessness, and even an inability to access disability or mental health services. And these abuses are likely to worsen if the government continues with its plan of legalizing MAiD for individuals whose sole diagnosis is a mental health condition.

Legislators introduced C-218 to stop this expansion, and a special parliamentary committee was held to examine the issue.

The Details:

A report by the joint House and Senate committee on Medical Assistance in Dying has recommended that the government "indefinitely exclude persons whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness from eligibility for medical assistance in dying."

Numerous witnesses testified before the Special Parliamentary Euthanasia Committee about the need to halt the expansion, including the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. Should the government choose not to follow the report's recommendation, MAiD for mental illness will be legal on March 17, 2027.

Despite the recommendation, some pro-euthanasia legislators are already fighting to keep the expansion alive.

"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."

However, warnings against expanding MAiD for mental illness haven't just come from the committee. A 2023 poll showed that just three out of 10 respondents would support MAiD for mental illness alone, and a 2024 Canadian poll revealed that "only 42% [of respondents] said they are in favor of expanding eligibility to include cases of mental illness alone. An additional 30% said they didn’t know whether they supported such an expansion, while 28% outright oppose it."

The Help Not Harm campaign urges Canadians to express to their MPs the importance of supporting Bill C-218 for these reasons:

• Ethical duty to protect life during crisis. Mental health crises are often temporary. Society has a responsibility to offer care, hope, and protection—not a permanent solution to temporary suffering.

• MAiD contradicts suicide prevention efforts. Allowing MAiD for mental illness sends a conflicting message at a time when Canada is investing in suicide prevention and crisis support.

• Potential for expansion over time. Many Canadians worry that eligibility criteria and safeguards could gradually weaken, expanding access beyond what was originally intended. 

• “Irremediable” mental illness cannot be reliably determined. There is no medical consensus on when a mental health condition is truly untreatable, making accurate and ethical assessments extremely difficult.

The campaign also notes that "In any given year, 1 in 5 Canadians experience a mental illness."

The Bottom Line:

Expanding MAiD for mental illness will only further push Canada into the culture of death, encouraging those who are suicidal to believe that their lives are, in fact, not worth living.