CLF URGES GOVERNMENT TO PRIORITIZE mental health supports, NOT EUTHANASIA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
21 November 2023
Christian Legal Fellowship has submitted a brief to the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying, urging it to reverse Canada’s proposed expansion of assisted death (“MAID”) for mental illness, currently scheduled to take effect next March.
Recent studies have highlighted serious concerns around lack of access to care for mental health in Canada. Instead of prioritizing MAID for psychiatric conditions, CLF's brief urges Parliament to "prioritize mental health supports that offer all Canadians the ability to live with dignity".
CLF's brief also responds to claims that (1) courts have directed Parliament to allow psychiatric euthanasia, or (2) that it would be unconstitutional for Parliament not to do so.
On the first point, CLF’s brief points to a letter signed by 32 Canadian law professors, as well as a peer-reviewed article forthcoming in the Manitoba Law Journal (written by Prof. Mary Sharrif, Prof. Trudo Lemmens, and Derek Ross - pre-print available online), which explain that no court has mandated Parliament to introduce MAID for mental disorders.
On the second point, CLF's brief explains why "[r]estricting eligibility for MAID for certain conditions is not necessarily discriminatory" under the Charter, and highlights a number of compelling equality considerations which weigh against expanding MAID for mental illness. As the brief explains:
“...MAID does not represent a benefit of the law’s equal protection against the termination of human life, but rather an exception to that benefit. Expanding MAID, then, actually removes more people from the benefit of law’s general protection. Expanding MAID can also perpetuate disadvantage insofar as it institutionalizes ableist presumptions about the value of life with a mental illness, as well as by “portray[ing] death as preferable to a disabled life”, rather than responding to “underlying inequalities”.”
The AMAD Committee has been charged with assessing “the degree of preparedness attained for a safe and adequate application” of MAID for mental disorders, and must report back to Parliament with a final recommendation by January 31, 2024.
CLF’s Derek Ross previously appeared before the Committee. CLF remains committed to its longstanding advocacy for the interests of marginalized Canadians, including access to medical assistance in living.
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For additional information, please contact:
Annamarie Carruthers
office@christianlegalfellowship.org
Learn more:
CLF’s Brief to the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying
Read more about CLF’s concerns about assisted death
Vulnerable Persons Standard (of which CLF is a supporting organization) submission to the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying