Parliamentary committee recommends against MAID expansion for mental illness

MPs and majority of senators at odds, but report to produce one single recommendation

A special parliamentary committee will recommend that the federal government indefinitely pause the expansion of medical assistance in dying for people whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness, CBC News has confirmed.

The expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAID) is set to take effect on March 17, 2027, unless Parliament intervenes.

The Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (AMAD), with members from the Senate and House of Commons, started a comprehensive review of the matter last February to assess the country's readiness to expand eligibility to MAID to those suffering with mental illness. Their report is expected to be tabled in the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon — 10 years after MAID became legal in Canada.

Three sources with knowledge of the committee's report who were not authorized to speak about it publicly shared details with CBC News on the condition they not be named. The National Post reported some of the details earlier.

One source said that the report contains a single recommendation: "That the Government of Canada amend the Criminal Code to indefinitely exclude persons whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness from eligibility for medical assistance in dying on the grounds that the evidentiary and systemic conditions necessary for safe and equitable implementation cannot presently be met."

Committee to recommend pausing MAID expansion for mental illness: sources

The same source said all Liberal and Conservative MPs on the committee agree there should be an indefinite pause, along with the joint chair Sen. Yonah Martin.

But the rest of the senators on the committee want the MAID expansion to go ahead, according to the source.

A different source said those senators have written at least one dissenting report, which could be "scathing."

That dissenting report is expected to ask for a Supreme Court reference — an advisory legal opinion the federal government can request — on the matter.

The Bloc Québécois confirmed that their vice-chair, Luc Thériault, will also issue a dissenting opinion.

Majority of committee opposed to expansion

The majority of committee members believe the Canadian legal and health-care systems are not equipped to respond to the expansion of MAID solely for mental illness, one source said.

The same source said they were particularly persuaded to recommend an indefinite pause of the expansion after hearing about the experience of European countries that allowed MAID solely for mental illness, including the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

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The source said a pattern emerged of people requesting MAID who had experienced trauma, and were in abject poverty with no social support, which the source said governments should address.

Justice Minister Sean Fraser, who is taking the lead on responding to the committee's report, is not expected to release an immediate decision about the expansion of MAID. But he will likely respond by July 11 — the deadline for feedback on the committee's report.

Fraser's response may not end the debate.

There are a number of court challenges related to MAID solely for mental illness that could eventually make their way to the Supreme Court of Canada, which would have the final say on the matter.

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The federal government will have to introduce new legislation if it wants to indefinitely pause the expansion of MAID or put it on hold for another two years.

If it wants to avoid court challenges, the government could invoke the notwithstanding clause, which allows governments to temporarily override other sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, for the first time in its creation since 1982.

Debate divisive in Canadian society

The House of Commons passed Bill C-14 on June 17, 2016, making it legal for doctors to help people with a terminal illness end their life. While the Senate attempted to expand the right to die beyond individuals whose deaths were considered "reasonably foreseeable," those amendments were ultimately voted down.

More than 76,000 Canadians have used MAID since then, notes a federal report released in late 2025.

The Superior Court of Quebec deemed the federal MAID limits unconstitutional in 2019, leading to fresh legislation two years later which created separate tracks for accessing medically-assisted death.

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The updated 2021 law, permitting medically-assisted deaths beyond terminal illness, temporarily excluded people whose sole underlying health issue is a mental health condition, leading to years of discussions among MPs, senators, and outside experts and advocates.

In 2023, the Liberal government extended the exclusion by one year. The next year, it was delayed yet again

Quebec City-based psychologist and professor Georgia Vrakas, who has struggled with bipolar disorder and suicidal ideation herself — but opposes MAID's expansion to individuals on the basis of mental illness — had testified at an earlier round of hearings in 2022.

"When people say they want to die, well, I've been through that," Vrakas said.

She noted that calling a suicide prevention line helped remind her that life was worth living and allowed her to later connect with psychiatric support. She questioned if governments would continue making investments in those kinds of mental health services if MAID became an option instead.

"If we offer [MAID] to mentally ill people, the message we're giving is that you're disposable … and we're not giving you the help you need."

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But Dying With Dignity Canada — a pro-MAID organization — argues that excluding people with mental illness violates their Charter rights.

"It's time that the law changed," said Helen Long, Dying With Dignity's CEO, who spoke to CBC News before the committee's recommendations became know.

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She's calling for the exemption to be lifted and says her group will continue doing all it can to ensure that "at some point people with a mental illness have the same access to [MAID] as everyone else in the country does."

Long's group is fighting a battle in Ontario courts over the issue.

Olivia Stefanovich is a senior reporter for CBC's Parliamentary Bureau based in Ottawa. She previously worked in Toronto, Saskatchewan and northern Ontario. Connect with her on X at @CBCOlivia. Reach out confidentially: olivia.stefanovich@cbc.ca.

With files from CBC's Lauren Pelley.