Parliament is deciding now. We need to act
The date when MAiD for mental illness would be allowed has been looming for years. The law allowing this expansion was passed in 2021, with a delay until it would take effect. Thankfully that take-effect date has been pushed back more than once – in 2023 and 2024.
Now, it’s looming again. In less than 8 months, on March 17, 2027, the law allowing MAiD for mental illness will take effect, unless a bill is passed to delay it again – or stop it altogether.
Over the summer, the Justice Minister is considering what he will do about MAiD for mental illness.
A parliamentary committee has recommended the government indefinitely delay MAiD for mental illness in a report tabled in June. This is a very positive development. But the government must now decide whether to adopt that recommendation and stop the coming expansion. If it does nothing, MAiD on the basis of mental illness will become available in March.
This is a critical time to engage: Ask your MP to delay MAiD for mental illness indefinitely or to completely reverse the law that allows it.
Before the committee released its report, media reports had indicated the government was open to an indefinite delay if that was what the committee recommended. Since the report, pro-euthanasia groups like Dying with Dignity have been pushing back, urging the government to allow the expansion to go ahead.
Claire Brosseau, who, with Dying with Dignity, launched a court challenge against the delay of MAiD for mental illness in 2024, has now applied to the courts to exempt her from the law so that she can end her life by MAiD.
In a court hearing this month about her request, the federal government’s lawyer said, “Parliament is currently deciding how it will respond to the report and what it will do with the mental illness exclusion.”
Claire Brosseau’s lawyer argued the committee’s findings don’t reflect the will of Parliament.
What is the will of Parliament? That will be shaped this summer as MPs are in their ridings and meeting with their constituents.
Even if you’ve contacted your MP about MAiD for mental illness before, this is an important time to communicate again.
When Parliament resumes in the fall, a bill that would reverse the expansion of MAiD for mental illness will come up for debate and vote. Bill C-218 is on the list of bills that will be addressed in the House of Commons in late September/early October.
It can take as little as 15 minutes to tell your MP that you support an indefinite pause on MAiD for mental illness, or better still, a complete stop.
It can be as easy as this:
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Call your MP’s office, explain that you live in the riding and ask your MP to support an indefinite delay for MAiD for mental illness, as the committee recommended.
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Ask for support for Bill C-218, which stops the expansion altogether.
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Leaving a voicemail message is also an option. To be more effective, contact your MP in more than one way. See TheEFC.ca/C218 for tips and messaging.
As always, we seek to be respectful and constructive in our interactions.
Their response may just be talking points, but whether our MPs agree with us or not, they will take note of our call or communication.
As Canadians, we have the opportunity to shape what happens next, to be part of this process. The door is open for an indefinite delay to MAiD for mental illness, if not a reversal of the expansion.
Let’s encourage our country to move towards offering care and support for those struggling with mental illness, rather than offering death via MAiD.
Please let us know if you contact your MP. We’d love to hear from you.
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