Factions clash over report recommending halt to mental illness MAID

Advocates praise 'indefinite pause' while critics slam parliamentary process as biased

Published Jun 18, 2026  •  3 minute read

Centre Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sunday, May 25, 2025. Photo by Bryan Passifiume /Toronto Sun

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OTTAWA — Wednesday’s joint committee report calling for a halt to expanding Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) framework was praised by disability advocates, but members of the committee that made the recommendation are calling the process “highly irregular and flawed.”

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The report, tabled in both the House of Commons and the Senate, called on the federal government to enact an “indefinite pause” on expanding Canada’s therapeutic suicide regime to include those whose sole reason for seeking MAID is mental illness, pointing out that a number of questions remain unanswered.

“We’re happy (the report) recommends an indefinite pause,” Inclusion Canada CEO Krista Carr told the Toronto Sun. 

“We would want to see it taken off the table permanently for good, but an indefinite pause is definitely a good thing as opposed to punting it down the road for two more years.”

Questions surround ‘incurability’ of psychiatric disorders

The report, drafted by the joint Senate/House Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying, recommended 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.”

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In February 2024, legislation was passed to expand MAID to those whose sole underlying medical condition is mental illness, changes meant to come into effect next March.

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.

Canada’s inclusion of track two MAID prompted condemnation from around the world, including a 2021 admonishment from the UN’s special rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, claiming violations of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

University of Toronto Professor Trudo Lemmens, who testified before the committee, told the Sun he supports calls to end track two MAID altogether.

“I’ve been very critical of the expansion outside of the end-of-life context,” he said.

Lemmens warned that while some track two patients may have concurrent psychiatric conditions, expanding medically-assisted death solely for mental illness presents risks.

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He explaining that agreement among clinical organizations suggest it’s impossible to determine if psychological conditions are truly incurable, adding that permanent legal exclusion is vital to prevent clinical judgments from ending the lives of vulnerable patients who otherwise could have recovered.

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

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   Expanding MAID to mental illness will stigmatize disabled Canadians, group warns

Tories concur, Bloc accuse ‘sad partisanship’

In their own supplemental report, the Conservatives supported the pause — pushing passage of their own private member’s bill C-218, which would codify the exclusion of track two MAID into law.

“Since irremediability (incurability) cannot accurately be predicted, (MAID for those whose sole condition is mental illness) falls outside of the boundaries of Canada’s MAID regime,” read the Tory report.

“Further, the human cost associated with terminating the life of a patient who may have gotten better presents an unacceptable risk.”

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The Bloc Quebecois, however, called the report a political “180-degree turn,” arguing that strict clinical safeguards already exist to prevent abuse without relieving those suffering from their rights to self-determination.

“This stems from ideological rigidity, sad partisanship, and a glaring lack of compassion,” read an excerpt from their supplemental submission.

“To constantly hear the argument that problems with access to care and structural vulnerabilities supposedly drive patients to seek MAID rather than seek treatment (even though the evidence proves the opposite,) without any proposal for a substantial increase in health care funding, is unspeakable.”

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In their own dissenting opinion, Senators Rosemary Moodie, Pamela Wallin and Kristopher Wells likewise accused the committee of being flawed and biased, accusing its members of “stacking” the witness stand.

“Of the invited 44 witnesses the Committee heard, more than two-thirds of the witnesses have been publicly opposed to extending MAiD for persons with a mental illness,” the opinion read.

“Although there were ample witness suggestions presented to the committee co-chairs that could provide perspective on Canada’s readiness based on their lived experiences, few were invited to appear.”

This supposed bias, the senators allege, “weakens the credibility of the recommendations,” particularly among those who stand to be impacted the most by the committee’s work.

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