Ottawa will not challenge Quebec's law allowing advance requests for MAID

Federal Health Minister Mark Holland says Ottawa will not be contesting Quebec's law that allows advance requests for medical assistance in dying (MAID). 

Instead, the federal government will launch a countrywide consultation on the issue next month, with a report set to be published in March 2025. 

The province passed a law updating its assisted-dying legislation last year, but delayed accepting advance requests so that the Criminal Code could be amended.

But last week, Quebec announced it would go ahead with accepting advance requests for MAID in cases where a person's condition, such as Alzheimer's, renders them incapable of giving consent at a later date.

Quebec will accept those requests as of Oct. 30.

The federal government has repeatedly expressed concern about Quebec moving forward before it modifies the Criminal Code. 

Monday, Holland said his grandmother had lived with Alzheimer's for 15 years after she was diagnosed when he was a boy. 

"This is an issue that is incredibly sensitive, that I don't think there are very many lives that haven't been touched by it," Holland said.

"And I can tell you as a family that the early stages of Alzheimer's were still a period of real joy for me as a kid because I still got to spend time with my grandmother and as that disease progressed, she became in a bedridden state … and that that was deeply painful for our family. And so I think that we need time to have a conversation about those issues."

Holland said the pursuit of criminal charges for assisted dying is overseen by provincial law enforcement and reiterated that advance requests are still considered an offence according to Canada's Criminal Code.

Quebec has instructed its prosecutor's office to not pursue charges against doctors who process those requests, publishing online guidelines for patients and physicians.

On Thursday, Sonia Bélanger, the Quebec minister responsible for seniors, said the province had conducted a "rigorous" assessment of how the new rules will be applied, and will move ahead without Ottawa.

"In the case of MAID, we have never waited for the federal government," she told reporters in Quebec City.