While we are still reviewing the details of the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying’s (AMAD) report, Medical Assistance in Dying and Mental Disorder as the Sole Underlying Medical Condition: A Complex and Challenging Conversation Among Canadians, and its recommendations, Dying With Dignity Canada (DWDC) is disappointed to hear the recommendation of an indefinite exclusion for persons whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental Illness.

We believe that excluding people whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness from assisted dying legislation is a breach of Section 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in which everyone “has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination.” This includes on the basis of mental or physical disability.

During the Committee process, we were concerned by the selection of those who testified. Important voices, including people with lived experience with severe and treatment resistance mental illness, and the Canadian Psychiatric Association, were left out of testimony appearances. DWDC believes that to have a full reflection of what people across Canada think the committee should have heard all perspectives.

Minister Fraser has indicated that he will be reviewing the report as well as the testimony and evidence presented to the Committee. We hope he will also consider the expertise of the Canadian Psychiatric Association – who were not asked to testify – and those with lived experience who were largely excluded from the conversation. Their voices must be central to any decision regarding MAID for persons with a mental illness as a sole underlying medical condition (MI-SUMC) the government makes moving forward.

As we wait for the Government of Canada’s response, we urge the Government to consider the implications of an indefinite exclusion in allowing access to medical assistance in dying for those whose sole underlying medical condition is mental illness. This indefinite exclusion will have real and severe negative implications for people across Canada. This is stigmatizing, discriminatory and unconstitutional, and we remain dismayed in any decision that continues to prevent all Canadians from accessing their Charter rights equally.

DWDC remains committed to advancing the rights and interests of individuals affected by the current exclusion through appropriate legal, policy and public engagement processes. And as public interest litigant in Brosseau et al v. Attorney General of Canada, we will continue to seek a court decision that will end this exclusion.