Canada will not allow medically assisted suicide for people whose only condition is mental illness, the justice minister said Wednesday, seeking to close debate on one of the country’s most controversial healthcare issues.
Canada legalized assisted dying for those at the end of life in 2016.
The right was extended to those suffering from serious and incurable illnesses in 2021, even if death was not “reasonably foreseeable.”
Initially, Canada was to allow assisted death regardless of condition by 2024, but that date was pushed back three years, with the government saying it wanted to make sure that the already overwhelmed mental health system was ready.
Without government action, people exclusively suffering from a mental illness would have had access to assisted suicide in March, when the exclusion was set to expire.
But Justice Minister Sean Fraser told reporters on Wednesday that Canada’s Liberal government plans to pass legislation that will prohibit assisted suicide for people whose only underlying medical condition is mental illness.
“Canada has made a decision not to move forward with the expansion (of assisted suicide),” Fraser said.
“While there is not a perfect consensus on this issue, we believe this is the correct approach.”
Fraser’s announcement follows recommendations from an advisory panel which in June urged the government not to expand assisted suicide rights.
That panel raised concern about the lack of mental health support in communities across the country, and the risk that suffering patients would choose death because they could not access care.
The committee also highlighted debate among mental health experts as to whether mental illness could ever be deemed incurable.
A majority of Canadians support the right to assisted suicide, but in recent months some medical professionals have called for a review of the policy, including how patients receive approval to end their lives.
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