OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) — The committee tasked with considering a planned expansion of euthanasia to those with mental illness in Canada has recommended against the idea, saying that it should be stopped indefinitely.
“Today, the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying recommended that the Criminal Code be amended to indefinitely exclude cases where mental illness is the sole underlying medical condition,” wrote Conservative MP Marc Dalton in an X post Wednesday.
“Thank you to everyone in our community who wrote letters, sent emails, came into the office, and signed petitions on this important issue. Your voices were heard.”
Dalton called the recommendation an “important and compassionate step forward for protecting vulnerable Canadians.”
“The committee heard serious concerns that Canada does not have the reliable clinical tools, mental health system capacity, or professional consensus needed to safely proceed,” he wrote.
Dalton noted how the Conservatives have “long held” that Canadians living with mental illness “deserve care, treatment, recovery, and support, not MAID as a substitute for a mental health system that is already failing too many people.”
“We must choose hope, help, and life-affirming care for vulnerable Canadians,” he added.
According to sources per the National Post, the Special Joint Committee on “Medical Assistance in Dying” (MAiD), or assisted suicide, will be recommending an “indefinite pause” on expanding euthanasia.
The committee recommends 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.”
The committee, made up of MPs from all parties, including some pro-life MPs such as Andrew Lawton, heard from some 44 witnesses overall. In total, around 32 briefs were also given to the committee, with many of them in opposition to the expansion of MAiD to those with mental illness.
Three senators on the committee gave a dissenting report.
The Canadian government created the Special Joint Parliamentary Committee for MAiD in March. It is filled with euthanasia backers, but Lawton is one of the few pro-life members of the committee.
The expansion of euthanasia for the mentally ill is slated to become law in 2027 as a consequence of the passage of Bill C-7.
In February 2024, the federal government delayed the mental illness expansion until 2027 after pushback from pro-life, medical, and mental health groups, as well as most of Canada’s provinces.
What happens now?
A few things could happen regarding the committee’s recommendation against MAiD expansion.
The “sunset” clause, which would allow MAiD for those with mental illness in March 2027 unless the government stops it, could be allowed to expire.
There could be a call for an indefinite pause of MAiD, or another temporary pause, which would trigger another MAiD review by the committee.
It is not yet clear what the federal Liberal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney will do.
One thing the Liberal government could do is vote in favor of Conservative Bill C-218, which would stop the expansion of MAiD. As reported by LifeSiteNews, Canada’s Catholic bishops have said they “support” Bill C-218.
There has been growing opposition to the planned expansion of assisted suicide.
Canada’s Catholic bishops, recently reflecting on the “sobering” 10th anniversary of euthanasia legalization, called for a renewed respect for “life” and a rejection of the “complacency with the status quo on euthanasia in Canada” today, noting the deadly practice can “never” be morally acceptable.
MAiD has become so prolific in Canada that one doctor even approved the procedure in a coffee shop parking lot.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, Cardinal Frank Leo, the metropolitan archbishop of Toronto, recently called on Carney and all his MPs to “choose life” and allow support for a Conservative Party private members’ bill that would stop a planned expansion of euthanasia to those with mental illness.
Euthanasia is the sixth-leading cause of death in Canada, but it was not listed in Statistics Canada’s top ten leading causes of death from 2019 to 2022.
Some provinces, such as Alberta, will soon be placing strong limits on assisted suicide, as LifeSiteNews reported.
The Liberal government under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and now Carney has worked to expand euthanasia thirteen-fold since it was legalized in 2016. Canada now has the fastest-growing assisted suicide program in the world. Meanwhile, Health Canada released a series of studies on advanced requests for assisted suicide.