Opposition parties call for indefinite pause to MAID expansion for mental illness

A special parliamentary committee is set to release a report this week that could shape the federal government's decision on whether to allow those suffering solely from a mental illness to obtain medically assisted deaths. 

Conservative and NDP members of the joint committee on medical assistance in dying (MAID) say they want an indefinite pause on the pending expansion of MAID eligibility to include cases of mental illness. That expansion is set to take place on March 17.

"Canada isn't ready," said committee member Michael Cooper, Conservative MP for St. Albert—Edmonton.

The committee, made up of 15 MPs and senators, was tasked by the federal government last fall with determining whether the health-care system is prepared for the expansion.

Witnesses from legal and medical backgrounds gave committee members a wide range of perspectives on both sides of the highly charged issue.

Cooper said he was swayed by psychiatrists who told the committee it would be difficult — if not impossible — for medical professionals to decide whether a mental illness is beyond treatment, or whether someone's request for MAID is rational or motivated by suicidal ideation.

"These Liberals have put ideology ahead of evidence-based decision making," Cooper said.

Another committee member, Nova Scotia Sen. Stanley Kutcher, disagrees.

Kucher said Canadians suffering from irremediable mental illnesses deserve the same rights as those with grievous physical illnesses.

"What I think we need to be led by is ... compassion," said Kutcher, a psychiatrist who pushed for MAID to include mental illness.

"We can't discriminate against some people being allowed to make an end-of-life choice."

The committee was formed back in 2021 after Parliament passed a bill that expanded MAID to include people with mental illnesses. The bill was amended when senators voted to impose an 18-month time limit on the bill's proposed blanket ban on assisted dying for people suffering solely from mental illnesses.

B.C. NDP MP Alistair MacGregor, one of the committee's vice-chairs, said the law was changed without proper consultation, leaving Parliamentarians and many different sectors of Canadian society struggling to catch up.

"It feels like on this issue, [the government has] been building the plane while it's flying mid-air," said MacGregor, who represents the riding of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford.