COLUMN: On Parliament Hill – The casting of vision for hope—and the fall of Bill C-218

Leadership scholar Warren Bennis once said, “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.”

Many of you wrote me about the disappointing results from C-218: The Right to Recover Act. The PMB (Private Member’s Bill) introduced by Conservative MP Tamara Jansen, which I seconded, would have amended the Criminal Code to ensure that a mental disorder by itself could not qualify as a grievous and irremediable medical condition for the purposes of MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying) eligibility.

To remind you why bill C-218 was needed, back in 2021, the Senate amended Government Bill C-7 to include mental illness as a sole underlying medical condition by which people could qualify for MAID. The bill was passed but implementation of the Senate amendment for mental illness to be included for MAID, was then delayed through subsequent legislation, currently delaying the eligibility date to be effective March 17, 2027.

Earlier this year, Parliament formed a special joint committee on MAID, which recommended that people whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness, be indefinitely excluded from eligibility for MAID.

Overwhelmingly, there is consensus that the most important message we can send to those struggling with mental health is that hope is always possible. People need to know that we won’t give up on them and healing and flourishing are possible. Part of the promotion of this bill was the message in the, “I Got Better” campaign, which emphatically communicated that having the desire to end one’s life doesn’t have to be permanent.

Similarly, that message was communicated under a previous private member’s bill C-314 in February 2023, introduced by MP Ed Fast. While the first bill was also defeated, the message seeded promising hope for those who suffer from mental illness.

Can we not all agree that Canadians struggling with mental illness need to be supported with resources to dream again for a better future? People in Provencher have shared with me beautiful stories of redemption and courage after recovering from that dark place of hopefulness. They have expressed their gratitude that people stood by them and walked with them—and thankfully did not encourage them toward death—but instead life. That culture of life is what I want to foster and encourage.

That’s why C-218 was such an important bill.

Honouring the special joint committee’s conclusion that expansion needs to be reversed, were Conservatives, the Green, the NDP and two lonely Liberal MPs. Except for one abstention, the remaining Liberal and Bloc members voted against the bill. What’s so unfortunate is that C-218 would have been an easy and direct path for legislation to pass quickly. The legislative work and research were already done for Parliament.

But right before the vote took place, Minister of Justice Sean Fraser made an announcement, promising to introduce new separate legislation at some point in the future. Now since this legislation does not yet exist, no one can vouch for what is in it. The only thing the minister shared with us was his disagreement with the use “mental disorder”—which in fact comes from the government’s own expert panel and legislative framework. The minister also referenced advanced consent which he explained as, “granting access to medical assistance in dying to people who have provided consent at a time when they still have capacity but know that they have been diagnosed with an illness that will subsequently take that capacity from them.”

The Liberals then proceeded to vote down C-218 at second reading, and the coming March deadline remains in place. Sadly, parliamentary resources will be accessed again to start all over, when the bill could have been sent to committee for collaborative amendments and then swiftly enacted.

The question that needs to be asked is why it was so important to the Liberal government to reject a bill that was ready and responsive to the overwhelming outcry for this change in legislation. And now, if both advanced requests and excluding mental illness for MAID are in the same bill, will MPs who side with the dignity of life and fostering a culture of life be conflicted?

These are questions that need to be answered. Envisioning life and hope for Canadians continues to need to be translated into reality.

Sometimes it can take time.

In the year 1780, William Wilberforce entered the British House of Commons at the young age of 21. From 1787 to 1833 Wilberforce campaigned against slavery. In 1833, the Slavery Abolition Act was passed. He never stopped speaking for what was right.

As we have just passed thanksgiving weekend, I am thankful for the voices of former MP Ed Fast and MP Tamara Jansen for speaking out for what is right. Unlike with Wilberforce, let’s hope translating the vision to instill hope for those suffering with mental illness, imminently turns into reality.