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Government to exclude people who solely suffer from mental illness from medical assistance in dying
- On Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, Justice Minister Sean Fraser and Health Minister Marjorie Michel announced Canada will permanently exclude mental illness as a sole condition for MAID, ending a decade-long debate.
- Expanding MAID for mental illness, initially set for March 17, 2027, was deferred twice amid warnings from psychiatry experts that the policy could facilitate avoidable deaths and erode suicide prevention efforts across Canada.
- Dr. Sonu Gaind, past chief of psychiatry at Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, testified that predicting long-term prognosis is akin to a "coin toss," while Liberal MP Marcus Powlowski cited "questionable conduct" by providers.
- Ministers intend to table legislation this fall maintaining the exclusion "on an indeterminate basis," while permitting advance MAID requests for patients diagnosed with illnesses threatening their future capacity to consent.
- The announcement coincides with a House of Commons vote on a Conservative bill, as Fraser said he wanted to take time "to line things up the appropriate way" on this controversial issue.
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Government to exclude people who solely suffer from mental illness from medical assistance in dying
The Liberal government says it will table legislation in the fall to indefinitely exclude people who solely suffer from mental illness from medical assistance in dying.
·Toronto, Canada
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