Dying With Dignity Canada extends its gratitude to every person across Canada who participated in Health Canada’s national survey on advance requests for medical assistance in dying (MAID). This is an issue of profound importance to people and families across the country. 

The results of Health Canada’s national conversation on advance requests for medical assistance in dying, held from November 2024 to February 2025, reaffirm what we already know. People across Canada want the ability to put an advance request for MAID in place if they are diagnosed with a capacity-diminishing disease, like dementia (69%), and even before they are diagnosed (76%). We know from more recent polling in March that the majority of Canadians (84%) support advance requests for MAID for a person that has a diagnosis of a capacity-impairing grievous and irremediable condition. And 72% support advance requests even if the person has not been diagnosed with a grievous and irremediable medical condition. The value that guided most questionnaire respondents when thinking about advance requests was “individual choice about end-of-life care” (73%) and the importance of a “dignified death” (73%). 

Dying With Dignity Canada believes the federal government must prioritize amending the Criminal Code of Canada to include advance requests for MAID within national legislation. Quebec has already taken important steps forward: as of October 30, 2024, new provisions in provincial law allow individuals with serious and incurable illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s disease, to make advance requests for MAID. More than 1600 people in Quebec have prepared and registered an advance request for MAID that could be honoured later, after they lose the capacity to make medical decisions for themselves. It is time for the federal government to act. Canadians deserve equal access to compassionate, rights-based end-of-life choices — no matter where they live.