{"id":18654,"date":"2026-10-07T16:51:37","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T20:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/?p=18654"},"modified":"2026-10-07T16:54:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T20:54:54","slug":"com-october-7-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/com-october-7-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"One Canadian bill to block MAID for mental illness AND allow advance requests"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Issues that deserve two separate bills<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Montreal, October\n7, 2026<\/span><\/b> \u2013 Justice Minister Sean Fraser and Health Minister\nMarjorie Michel announced\nat noon today the Government of Canada’s intention to introduce a bill later\nthis fall addressing two issues related to medical assistance in dying (MAID)<\/a>.\nA single bill would both block the planned expansion of access to MAID where\nmental illness is the sole underlying medical condition AND amend the Criminal\nCode to allow advance requests for MAID. In response to this announcement, the Living\nwith Dignity citizen network believes these two questions merit two separate\nbills.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>

Living with\nDignity welcomes the federal government’s favourable response to the\nrecommendation of the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying to\n“amend the Criminal Code to indefinitely exclude from MAID eligibility\npersons whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness.” At\nthe same time, the network expresses deep concern over the federal government’s\nintention to allow advance requests for MAID “for adults diagnosed with a\ncondition such as early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.”<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>

Other groups and\nindividuals are no doubt reacting in the opposite way: disappointed with\nrespect to cases involving mental illness, and pleased with respect to advance\nrequests. Opinions are just as divided among members of Parliament from all\npolitical parties, including the governing Liberals.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>

“The\nCanadian government is on the wrong track in including two fundamentally\ndifferent issues in a single bill. All the more so since both questions engage\nthe conscience of parliamentarians,” said Jasmin Lemieux-Lefebvre,\nCoordinator of Living with Dignity.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>


\nBill C-218 defeated<\/b><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>

The private\nmember’s bill to block MAID for mental disorder (C-218) was defeated at the end\nof the day by a vote of 187 to 141 (For: Conservatives, New Democrats, Greens\nand two Liberals. Against: Liberals and Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois members. One Liberal\nabstention). We would like to echo the words of Liberal minister Sean Fraser, who\nthanked Conservative MP Tamara Jansen for moving this cause forward with her\nbill. The reasons the government gave for not supporting C-218 (including the\nuse of the term “mental disorder” rather than “mental\nillness”) seem partisan to us, since the bill could easily have been\namended.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>

\u2014 30 \u2014<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>

For interviews or further information:<\/span><\/b><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/p>

Jasmin Lemieux-Lefebvre
\nCoordinator
\nLiving with Dignity citizen network
\n<\/span>info@vivredignite.org<\/span><\/a>

<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Issues that deserve two separate bills
\nMontreal, October
\n7, 2026 \u2013 Justice Minister Sean Fraser and Health Minister
\nMarjorie Michel announced
\nat noon today the Government of Canada’s intention to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[290],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18654"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18658,"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18654\/revisions\/18658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}