Committee calls for indefinite halt to federal government’s MAID expansion

Legislation was passed in 2024 to formally expand MAID to cover mental illness by March 2027

Published Jun 17, 2026  •  2 minute read

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OTTAWA — Canada isn’t ready.

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That was the conclusion of a long-awaited report tabled Wednesday by a joint House/Senate committee on next March’s planned expansion of Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) framework that would include mental illness as a sole reason for seeking therapeutic suicide.

The report, drafted by the 12-member Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying committee, recommends the government “amend the Criminal Code to indefinitely exclude persons whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness from eligibility for medical assistance in dying.”

The committee based its work on the testimony of 44 witnesses across six meetings.

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‘Challenging and consequential’ issue

“Some witnesses asserted that Canada is or will be ready for the expected expansion on 17 March 2027, others stated that the conditions for proceeding have yet to be met, including the establishment of evidence-informed, consensus-based criteria for determining irremediability and delineating between a reasoned MAID request and suicidal intent; the existence of adequately resourced mental-health systems; or the presence of sufficiently stringent regulatory safeguards,” said an excerpt from the report.

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“For some, the expansion should never proceed, under any circumstances. Many recognized that these issues are difficult, challenging and consequential for Canadians.”

In February 2024, legislation was passed to expand MAID to those whose sole underlying medical condition is mental illness — scheduled to begin in March 2027.

In 2021, Canada removed the requirement that death had to be “reasonably foreseeable” to qualify for MAID.

Patients seeking MAID are assigned to one of two tracks: Track one for those with terminal illnesses or whom natural death is near; and track two for those whose death is not a reasonable outcome in the foreseeable future.

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Questions remain about irremediability, ideation

The report said witnesses were “divided” on if it were possible to determine the incurability of mental disorders with some saying it was entirely within the purview of clinicians to assess if a condition were irremediable (incurable), while others testified it would “not be possible — either at this moment or at any future time — to reliably determine irremediability in mental illness or ‘reliably distinguish in practice those rare cases where suffering is truly irremediable from those where despair may yet be treatable.'”

Other concerns include overlapping with suicide crisis services.

During her testimony, Dr. Allison Crawford, chief medical officer of the 988 Suicide Crisis Helpline, said about 7% of all helpline interactions, amounting to nearly 70,000 calls and texts, now mention MAID.

“She also testified that among contacts who referenced MAID, 74% had endorsed thoughts of suicide in the previous two days, compared with 48% among other contacts,” the report said.

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