On March 21, 2025, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities published a report recommending that Canada repeal Track 2 MAID based on unfounded reasoning and unsubstantiated grounds. 

The concerns of the committee echo verbatim the claims made in the challenge to Track 2 in Ontario — claims that have not been tested in Court and so should not be stated as conclusions. The report mischaracterizes the data on who accesses MAID and is unclear in its specific concerns on MAID for those whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness, mature minors, and advance requests — three distinct avenues to MAID that should not be conflated.   

It is important to acknowledge that Track 2 MAID was established as a result of a court case brought by two Canadians with disabilities who fought for the right to access MAID without being excluded on the basis of their diagnosis. This decision was an affirmation of the original Carter ruling — a case that was also brought by two Canadians with disabilities. 

Recent research demonstrates that every measurable form of structural vulnerability (poverty, insecure housing and food, lower education, racialized status) drives mortality to a large degree, but it does not drive assisted dying to any substantial degree.    

The effect of structural vulnerability on the lives of Canadians is a valid concern, but repealing MAID is not a solution. Instead, we should focus on policies that promote stable housing, income and food, pharmacare and dental care. Recommendation 20.c. in the report is the most constructive response to the social challenges currently found in Canada and other countries.  

We cannot solve one injustice by creating another; those with a disability must have the same right to autonomy and end-of-life choice as all people across Canada.