Canada will not extend medical assistance in dying (MAID) to people whose only condition is a mental illness. Justice Minister Sean Fraser said in Ottawa on Wednesday 7 October that the government will introduce legislation to keep that group excluded indefinitely.
The expansion had been due to take effect in March 2027. It will now not go ahead, the BBC, CBC and the Guardian reported.
The same bill will also make a separate change. It will allow advance requests for people with an incurable illness who are likely to lose capacity, so they can make a request before that happens. Provinces will decide whether to take the option up, so access to advance requests will depend on where a person lives.
The bill therefore does two things at once. People whose sole condition is mental illness stay outside MAID, while some people facing an incurable illness gain a way to plan ahead.
Why Ottawa Says It Is Acting
Fraser pointed to a lack of consensus in medicine on when a mental illness can be considered incurable, according to CBC and the BBC. He also raised concern about access to mental health services, CBC reported.
“While there is not a perfect consensus on this issue, we believe this is the correct approach at this particular time,” Fraser said, as quoted by CBC.
“These are not easy decisions but we believe they will be the correct ones,” he said, as quoted by the BBC.
The decision follows a recommendation from Parliament. In June, a parliamentary committee recommended that people whose sole condition is mental illness be indefinitely excluded from MAID, CBC reported. The government’s plan follows that recommendation.
Delayed Twice Already
MAID has been legal in Canada since 2016. Extending it to people with a mental illness as their only condition was first set for 2023, and that start date was pushed back twice, according to the BBC and CBC.
This week’s announcement is different from those delays. Instead of setting a new date, the government plans to make the exclusion open-ended.
Who qualifies for health and disability support has been before other parliaments this year as well. In Australia, the NDIS overhaul passed the Senate in August after Labor struck a deal with the Coalition.
Advocates Push Back
Not everyone backs Ottawa’s decision. Dying with Dignity Canada called it “profoundly disappointing”, the BBC reported.
Helen Long of Dying with Dignity Canada said the group expected only a small number of people to qualify if the expansion had gone ahead.
“We anticipate that a very small number of individuals with severe and persistent mental illness would be eligible for Maid under this criterion, but their suffering is no less real than those who live with physical illnesses,” she said, as quoted by the BBC.
The government, for its part, says the medical agreement needed to decide when a mental illness is incurable is not there yet.
A Fight Headed for the Courts
The bill may not settle the matter. A court challenge to the earlier delays is already under way, and Fraser acknowledged that it could affect the new legislation, the Guardian reported. The case was brought over the delays, not this week’s decision, but its outcome could still bear on what Parliament is asked to pass.
The legislation has yet to be introduced. When it is, it will carry two changes together: an indefinite exclusion for people whose only condition is mental illness, and a path to advance requests that each province can choose whether to adopt.
The March 2027 date set for the expansion no longer stands, and the government has not replaced it with a new one.
If this story raises concerns for you, Lifeline is available on 13 11 14.
Sources: BBC News, “Canada suspends plans to expand assisted dying to people with mental illness”, 7 October 2026 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqd09g0gj50ko); CBC News, “Ottawa to indefinitely extend MAID exclusion for people solely suffering from mental illness”, 7 October 2026 (https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-maid-exclusion-9.7372732); The Guardian, “Canada to indefinitely bar mental illness as sole reason for access to euthanasia”, 7 October 2026 (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/07/canada-assisted-dying-mental-illness)
Saffron Blaze / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Centre Block on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, in 2013. A file view of Canada’s parliament that illustrates the policy rather than any event this week.
