On the day of the House vote to permanently take mental illness off the MAID table (MP Jansen’s Bill C-218), health minister Sean Fraser explained why the Liberal government voted against that Bill. They had, he said, some “technical” problems with the bill, and he has promised to table a better bill very soon — this fall, he says, although we are already well into the fall! Still, he agrees with the general principle that MAID for sole mental illness should not be legalized. We look forward to getting a look at the new bill, especially since, while it promises to support our main issue, it undermines us on another front.
Do you remember the government’s “conversation” conducted two winters ago about advanced directives that people could sign if they were really scared of being diagnosed with a cognitive disability like Alzheimer’s disease? It’s a while ago, so you could be forgiven if you’d forgotten about it. Did you fill in the 12-question form the government circulated soliciting your beliefs, opinions and preferences? I wrote a blog post about it at the time. In October, 2025, the government published a response to this consultation. I apologize to my readers that I totally missed that response. It’s worth a click to go to it to refresh your memory of the original questionnaire, and to see what they “heard”.
Well, it seems that the majority of participants in the “conversation” came down on the side of having the option to be euthanized under X, Y and Z conditions of mental deterioration. The federal government has decided it will not be a criminal offence for a doctor or nurse practitioner to end your life without your consent, as long as you filled out the necessary form before losing capacity. There is no news yet on what will be done if you have met those conditions, X, Y and Z, but you find yourself happy, content and enjoying a whole new life. You will not be in any position to argue that your life should continue, since you chose, when in your pre-illness mind, to exit on cue. Will a doctor or nurse have the power to “clear a bed” even though you are tolerating your new conditions just fine? Will an impatient relative or potential beneficiary push for your pre-illness wishes to be carried out, regardless of how you’re feeling now? Well, you might want to be very very careful what you sign on to. Just sayin’. But if it’s good news for you to learn that you will be granted this new option, this right to be terminated, in a law to be tabled this fall by the Liberal government, congratulations, I guess.
People with mental illness alone, however, will not be on the list of people who can be terminated. This is cause for some relief, even celebration. The pro-euthanasia doctors, medical regulators and others who argued in favour of the current mental health system’s readiness, willingness and able-ness to distinguish between “rational” and “irrational” requests for life-ending “treatment”, failed to convince the members of the AMAD committee that MAID for mental illness was going to be safe and non-problematic. AMAD recommended a permanent pause on implementation of MAID for the mentally ill. The government heard the committee and responded — well at least they responded with a promise to respond by tabling legislation this fall. We can expect that proposed legislation to be somewhat “hole-y”, given that the government chose to make these announcements on the same day that the House was scheduled to vote on an outright ban, which had at least a chance of being successful. Reports are that the government found MP Jansen’s bill to be “overly broad” … uh-oh! So if the practice of euthanasia for the mentally ill isn’t banned outright, what will be the exceptions that narrow the general rule against it?
If a person’s mental illness is accompanied by a physical disability, well they’re already in under T2 MAID, regardless of which condition is the real source of unbearable suffering. (Regular readers of this blog understand that we consider T2 MAID to be dangerous and discriminatory towards people living with disabilities). We know that this is already occurring. (Alan Nichols is an early example — he was euthanized for deafness, apparently, not for the depression that his family insisted was the real reason. Keanu Vafaeian is a more recent example — his diabetes-related blindness was cited. There are many others. Please visit our Remembering Lives Lived page for more).
In the absence of a physical disability, what other paths might suicidal people and their willing death-service providers take to achieve their aims within the limits of MAID law? Well, far be it from me to help them think this through or offer suggestions. The government appears to be set to propose a law with loopholes aka. “safeguards” to ensure that the law is not too restrictive. Let’s wait and see what they come up with.
Meanwhile, let’s celebrate our government’s apparent willingness to provide at least a minimal nod towards valuing the lives of people with mental illness. Let’s see if they follow up by greatly increasing earmarked federal funding for mental health services, including suicide prevention. Federal pressure could be brought to bear on provincial/territorial community support systems to discontinue punitive and judgemental measures, and instead provide a basic income guarantee, real and sustainable housing supports and deep community resources for people struggling to live with mental illness. Making life a little easier and more livable might prove to be an exceptionally effective strategy for reducing demand for life-ending treatment. Just sayin’
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