COLUMN: On Parliament Hill – Mental illness treatment… not with MAiD

In 2015, former Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government introduced Bill C-14, Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD). Bill C-14 became law in 2016 and enabled Canada’s Medical institutions to facilitate the most vulnerable Canadians to take their own lives. Fast forward to 2025, and Canada has emerged as the most permissive jurisdiction for assisted suicide in the world. A comparison with California, which has a similar population and legalized Physician Assisted Dying in 2016, underscores the difference: in 2022, Canada recorded 13,241 MAiD deaths, compared with just 853 in California.

Constituents continue to write me on this issue. While a very small minority voiced their desire to further expand MAiD, an overwhelming majority advocate for its reversal. I have always been consistent in my strong advocacy against MAiD, believing all life is sacred.

What makes the current conversation even more alarming is that MAiD also targets people with mental illness who are desperately in need of resources and support, not a state-sanctioned death. People suffering from mental illness deserve our care and compassion, with the hope and the help to make that happen.

Former MP Ed Fast introduced Bill C-314 to reverse the expansion of MAiD to include mental illness. Unfortunately, it was defeated by the previous Liberal/NDP coalition. At the start of this current session, my colleague, MP Tamara Jansen, introduced Bill C-218, which would make it a criminal offence to provide MAiD to a person whose sole underlying condition is mental illness. I have seconded this Bill because it offers vulnerable Canadians the protection and care they deserve.

Canadian experts in mental illness sounded the alarm bells. The Head of Psychiatry for all 17 Canadian medical schools warned that it was nearly impossible to determine when a mental illness is truly irreversible. In a desperate attempt to pause MAiD, Dr. Sareen, head of psychiatry at the University of Manitoba, took it one step further and wrote to members of parliament, emphatically stressing that most Manitoba psychiatrists opposed the expansion of MAiD to include mental disorders. Further, a 2024 study by the Ontario Psychiatric Association revealed that of 497 psychiatrists and residents surveyed, only eight percent of participants would be even willing to assess for and provide MAiD where mental disorder was the sole underlying medical condition. Clearly, without the passage of Bill C-218 to stop this reckless expansion, Canada risks sanctioning premature and unnecessary deaths.

Proponents of MAiD, such as former Liberal Justice Minister David Lametti, have cited that they are constitutionally bound and compelled by the courts to allow people with mental illness to access MAiD. This is clearly unfounded, as numerous law professors citing the Carter v. Canada Supreme Court case have pointed out that “The Supreme Court explicitly states that MAiD in cases of psychiatric disorder would not fall within the parameters of the decision.”

Furthermore, the decision to expand MAiD was void of meaningful consultation. Public engagement was high, with 900 briefs being submitted; however, constrained resources did not allow these briefs to be translated in a timely manner for consideration in the committee’s report. Additionally, according to Joselyne Voisin of Health Canada, meaningful consultation with Indigenous people was forfeited.

The international communities and regulatory bodies are closely watching Canada, including the U.N., which I rarely side with. The U.N. committee on the rights of persons with disabilities has condemned Canada’s MAiD program, calling for a full stop to the 2027 plans to include mental illness.

Recently, MP Andrew Lawton publicly endorsed Bill C-218, sharing his support under the subtitle, “I Got Better.” MP Lawton bravely recounts his story of battling depression and almost losing his life to suicide in 2010. Lawton revealed, “If the law on the books now were there 15 years ago, I’d probably be dead right now.”

A few years ago, while debating legislation on MAiD, I shared a letter written by a constituent. Struggling with multiple illnesses, she described herself as the furthest thing from being a productive member of society. Kicked out of school and home, she viewed suicide as the only way out. She saw herself as a burden to all she knew, asserting her prime candidacy for MAiD, had it been available during those years. She shared how her faith led her to healing and a deeper understanding of God, who brought about profound transformation after a decade of turmoil and hardship.

As a Member of Parliament, it is not only my responsibility to represent but also to help provide avenues for the most vulnerable people to be protected and given a chance to heal and find hope. Their lives are not disposable and should not be defined by death. I support Bill C-218 because everyone—especially the most vulnerable—should have access to hope and recovery. Offering the possibility of hope is what people who have hope do.