On January 6, 2025, the Governor General prorogues Parliament until March 24, 2025.

On October 30, 2024, Quebec becomes the first province in Canada to allow advance requests for medical assistance in dying.

On August 19, 2024, a court challenge to end the discriminatory exclusion of those whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness from medical assistance in dying is filed. Plaintiffs include John Scully, Claire Elyse Brosseau, and Dying With Dignity Canada.

On June 17, a court challenge to end forced transfers for medical assistance in dying is filed in British Columbia. Plaintiffs include Gaye O’Neill, Dr. Jyothi Jayaraman and Dying With Dignity Canada. 

Dying With Dignity Canada’s Barrie and Thunder Bay (Ontario) Chapters are established.  

Private Member’s Bill C-390 is tabled by MP Sylvie Berube that would provide immunity from prosecution under the Criminal Code to any province or territory which establishes a law providing for an advance request regime within their health care system.  

On February 29, legislation to extend the temporary exclusion of eligibility for MAID where a person’s sole medical condition is a mental disorder until March 2027 (Bill C-62) receives Royal Assent. 

On February 13, e-petition 4726 closes with 16,466 signatures in support of advance requests for MAID. 

On February 1, legislation is tabled (Bill C-62) by the government that would extend the sunset clause on MAID for those whose sole underlying condition is a mental disorder beyond March 17, 2024, for a further three years. 

Dying With Dignity Canada launches Death Dialogues, connecting like-minded individuals to provide a safe and comfortable space for people to explore their feelings about death and dying. 

On December 15, five concerned citizens initiate e-petition 4726, endorsed by MP Brendan Hanley, in support of advance requests for MAID. 

On June 7, Bill 11 is passed in Quebec to amend the Act respecting end-of-life care to include advance requests for MAID and introduced the obligation for palliative care homes and private hospitals to include MAID in their care offering. 

On March 9, 2023, legislation to extend the temporary exclusion of eligibility for MAID where a person’s sole medical condition is a mental disorder until March 2024 (Bill C-39) receives Royal Assent.

On February 15, 2023, the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying tables its final report of the Parliamentary Review.

On February 2, legislation is tabled by the government that would extend the sunset clause on MAID for those whose sole underlying condition is a mental disorder until March 17, 2024.

Bill S-248 on Advance Requests is tabled in the Senate by Senator Pamela Wallin. 

On May 13, 2022, The Expert Panel on MAID and Mental Illness tables its final report.

Bill 38 is tabled in Quebec to allow people with severe and incurable diseases such as Alzheimer’s to give prior consent to medical assistance in dying.

An expert panel on MAID and Mental Illness is announced in August to establish and consider protocols, guidance and safeguards for those whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness and request MAID.

Bill C-7, An act to amend the criminal code (medical assistance in dying) receives Royal Assent. This amendment removed the reasonably foreseeable death requirement and allowed for a waiver of final consent (Audrey’s Amendment), among other changes.

Dying With Dignity Canada’s Greater Toronto Area (Ontario) Chapter is established.

Dying With Dignity Canada’s Okanagan (British Columbia) Chapter is established.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Christine Baudouin rules that restricting eligibility for medical assistance in dying to people whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Dying With Dignity Canada serves as an intervenor in support of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) at the Superior Court level, arguing that the effective referral rule is critical to upholding Ontarians’ right to access assisted dying, as well as their dignity and privacy rights. 

The Christian Medical and Dental Society of Canada (CMDSC) v College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) case begins. The CPSO created a policy that required medical assistance in dying (MAID) providers to make an “effective referral” for MAID. The CMDSC claimed that this policy violated their freedom of religion. The Supreme Court of Ontario affirmed that the policies strike a reasonable balance between patients’ interests and a physician’s freedom to refuse services that conflict with religious views. This ruling only applied in Ontario. 

Jean Truchon, living with cerebral palsy, and Nicole Gladu, living with post-polio syndrome, launch a constitutional challenge to the reasonably foreseeable death requirement in Bill C-14.

On June 17, 2016, Bill C-14, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make related amendments to other Acts (medical assistance in dying), receives Royal Assent. Bill C-14 legalized and regulated medical assistance in dying with strict eligibility criteria, legal safeguards, and a 10-day waiting period.

Dying With Dignity Canada’s Niagara Region (Ontario) Chapter is established. 

Gloria Taylor, living with ALS, and Kay Carter, living with spinal stenosis, bring forward a constitutional challenge – Carter v Canada – to argue that their Section 7 right to liberty and security of person is infringed. The Supreme Court of Canada agrees and declares that s. 241 (b) and s. 14 of the Criminal Code of Canada are invalid.

Dying With Dignity Canada’s Victoria (British Columbia) Chapter is established.

Bill 52 – An Act Respecting End of Life Care is passed into law, allowing adult residents of Quebec suffering unbearably with an incurable or terminal illness to receive physician assistance at end-of-life. 

Dying With Dignity Canada’s Ottawa (Ontario), and Winnipeg (Manitoba) Chapters are established.

Dying With Dignity Canada’s Edmonton (Alberta), Vancouver (British Columbia), and Nova Scotia Chapters are established.

Quebec tables right-to-die legislation in the National Assembly. The legislation would require the patient to state their intention to die in writing, have a doctor agree, and then have a second doctor confirm medically aided death is the only way to end the patient’s suffering.

The B.C. Supreme Court rules that the right to die with dignity is protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This decision is appealed by the federal government.  

Three pilot volunteer-led Chapters were established in Salt Spring Island (British Columbia), Calgary (Alberta), and Grand River (Ontario). 

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) files a lawsuit – Carter v Superior Court of B.C. – to challenge the laws that make it a criminal offense to assist seriously and incurably ill individuals to die with dignity. The challenge seeks to allow seriously and incurably ill, mentally competent adults the right to receive medical assistance to hasten death under specific safeguards. 

A pilot project for the DWDC Client Support Program is completed, and the Board of Directors decides to make it a permanent department. 

In a five-to-four decision, the Supreme Court of Canada dismisses an appeal by Sue Rodriguez – a B.C. woman living with ALS –  in which she challenged the validity of the Criminal Code prohibition on assisted suicide under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

Dying With Dignity was incorporated as a registered Canadian Charity. 

Along with a handful of fellow advocates, Marilynne Seguin, a registered nurse, co-founded the grassroots organization, Dying With Dignity (“Canada” was added to the name years later).