United Nations MAID report raises important issues

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Toronto Sun Editorial on Sunday April 6, 2025 concerned the UN Committee on the Rights of People with Disabilities report that urged the Canadian government to repeal Track 2 euthanasia (MAiD), including the planned 2027 expansion to persons whose “sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness,” and reject proposals to expand MAiD to “mature minors” and through advance requests.

Article: United Nations Committee directs Canada to repeal Track 2 euthanasia deaths (Link).

The Toronto Sun Editorial stated:

Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID) legislation for so-called “Track 2” patients — those people whose condition is not terminal and whose natural death cannot be reasonably seen as occurring in the foreseeable future. Track 2 is aimed mostly at the disabled. It has been criticized as a state-sanctioned escape hatch through which the government can offer MAID to those with disabilities instead of offering them the support they need to participate in society. The UN report suggests they have been failed by health care, housing and social services and are not receiving adequate welfare and mental health supports.

The Toronto Sun Editorial continues:

...When MAID was first introduced in 2016, it was seen as a humane way to help those who are terminally ill exit this world on their own terms, instead of prolonging their pain.

When “reasonably foreseeable” was taken out of the equation, it opened a can of worms that cannot easily be closed. The committee also proposed that the federal government not expand MAID eligibility, as planned in 2027, to those whose sole underlying condition is mental illness. It also called for a ban on a plan to allow advanced planning for MAID for those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.

The Toronto Sun Editorial questions Track 2 deaths.

Assisted death is not just a personal issue for the person who has decided to end his or her life. It raises issues for those in the health-care system who provide that service. It asks us to examine what kind of a society we are when we consider disabled people to be inconvenient and disposable rather than provide them with support and care. Mental illness need not be a death sentence. It can be treated.

The Toronto Sun completed their Editorial by stating that: The next government must proceed with caution as it moves forward with MAID, but I suggest that the next government needs to do a complete review of Canada's euthanasia law.

A complete review of Canada's euthanasia law has never happened.