Ottawa told to exclude mental illness indefinitely from assisted suicide

"I’m so grateful that we have come to a conclusion that will not tell these people that we should be killing them, which is what would have happened," said Conservative MP Andrew Lawton.

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

A federal committee is now urging Ottawa to slam the brakes indefinitely on expanding assisted suicide to people with mental illness, warning the system still lacks the safeguards, evidence and mental-health supports to handle it.

The joint House–Senate report says the proposed 2027 expansion of MAID should be “indefinitely excluded” for cases where mental illness is the sole condition, citing unresolved questions about how to separate suicidal crisis from a “reasoned” request for death.