The federal government plans to introduce a bill this fall to continue indefinitely the exclusion from medical assistance in dying for people whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness.
Justice Minister Sean Fraser and Health Minister Marjorie Michel announced the plan in Ottawa. The current temporary exclusion is due to expire on March 17, 2027, unless Parliament takes further action.
The announcement follows a recommendation from a special joint parliamentary committee. In June, the committee advised an indefinite pause on expanding eligibility, citing a lack of consensus and concerns that clinicians cannot yet reliably determine when a mental illness is irremediable.
Fraser said the government considers the step appropriate in the circumstances, while acknowledging that there is no consensus. The committee also heard from witnesses who oppose medical assistance in dying more broadly.
The current exclusion is part of changes made in 2021. Before those changes, access required a person’s death to be reasonably foreseeable. After a Quebec Superior Court ruling in the case of Nicole Gladu and Jean Truchon, federal law was expanded to cover some people with serious and incurable illnesses or disabilities even when death was not reasonably foreseeable. The exclusion for cases where mental illness is the sole underlying condition was left temporary.