Tamara Jansen will be speaking in London, Hamilton and St. Catharines Ontario
Alex Schadenberg Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
On June 20, 2025,Tamara Jansen(MP - Cloverdale - Langley City) introduced private membersBill C-218in the House of Commons, a bill that would prevent euthanasia (MAiD) for mental illness alone in Canada
Bill
C-218 excludes mental illness from being defined as a "grievous and
irremediable medical condition" for the purposes of (MAiD) euthanasia. Bill C-218, if passed will prevent euthanasia for mental illness alone.
Tamara Jansen, the sponsor of Bill C-218, has speaking events in London, Hamilton & St Catharines Ontario.
Tuesday, August 25 | 7:30 PM Doors open at 7:00 PM With MP Andrew Lawton Byron-Springbank Legion Branch 533 1276 Commissioners Rd W, London, Ontario
Wednesday, August 26 | 7:30 PM Doors open at 7:00 PM With MP Dan Muys Ancaster Fairgrounds, Room AB - 630 Trinity Rd. S., Jerseyville, Ontario.
RSVP FOR HAMILTON Thursday, August 27 | 7:30 PM Doors open at 7:00 PM With Conservative candidate of record Bas Sluijmers Grantham Lions Club - 732 Niagara Street, St. Catharines, Ontario
Bill C-218 received it's first hour of debate on December 5, 2025. It's second hour of debate is scheduled for soon after parliament returns in September.
Currently, on
March 17, 2027 doctors and nurse practitioners will be allowed to kill
patients, by lethal poison, when their sole underlying condition is a
mental illness. A recent parliamentary report released on
June 17, 2026 recommended that euthanasia for mental illness
alone be indefinitely paused.
If passed, Bill C-218 will prevent euthanasia for mental illness in Canada.
There are several effective ways you help get Bill C-218 passed:
Sign the petition in support of Bill C-218 (Link).
Send your personal stories about living with mental illness to info@epcc.ca.
Contact your Member of Parliament and share your story or share your support for Bill C-218. Contact your Member of Parliament at: (Member of Parliament List).
Often it is easier and more effective to call your Member of Parliament. The phone numbers are part of the MP contact information. (Member of Parliament List).
Refer to the information in the Bill C-218 handout for Members of Parliament (Link).
Remember. The majority of Canadians do not support MAiD for mental illness.
At
this point, only an adult with a grievous and irremediable medical
condition can seek medical assistance in dying in Canada. An expansion
that would cover mental illness is expected to come into place in March
2027. Just over two in five Canadians (42 per cent, down one point)
believe mental illness is a good reason for a person to request medical
assistance in dying.
To
pass, Bill C-218 needs Member of Parliament from all political parties
to support it. Keys to speaking to your Member of Parliament:
Only
comment on MAiD for mental illness alone. Bill C-218 only deals with
this issue. There are many concerns, but mixing issues weakens your
position.
Contact your Member of Parliament, even if you know his/her position on MAiD.
Ask others, including groups that you belong to, to contact their Member of Parliament.
By Gordon Friesen President, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Gordon Friesen
On May 5, 2026, Helen Long, CEO of the oddly named Canadian death-lobby flagship ‘Dying with Dignity’, expressed her desire that the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (which is presently reconsidering the 2027 implementation of medical homicide for patients with psychiatric conditions alone) might usefully hear testimony from those persons who are most immediately impacted. In making this observation, she quoted Claire Brosseau, who used the iconic disabled-rights slogan, "Nothing about us without us", which vigorously affirms the principle that no decisions, affecting disabled persons, should be taken without disabled input.
On May 7, Ms. Long's wish was eloquently granted when the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition published a commentary by Amy Hasbrouck, past President of the Coalition, Founding Director of Toujours Vivant-Not Dead Yet, and a pillar of Canadian Disability activism for many years. This I believe, is precisely the sort of personal, informed, and directly affected testimony that Ms Long's call for disabled voices might most beneficially have elicited.
Unfortunately for the thesis of Ms. Long, however, Ms Habrouck's conclusion is unambiguously (and unapologetically) opposed to any medical homicide at all, much less that for persons afflicted with mental illness. Indeed, Amy made her argument by generously referencing both collective and personal experience, to examine the ways in which this now scheduled extension of medical homicide would negatively impact persons such as herself. In doing so, she rather colorfully condemned Ms. Long's use of the phrase "Nothing about us without us", observing that it is (in her opinion) grossly inappropriate to parrot words so clearly associated with those individuals, and organizations, which are most vehemently opposed to the objectives of death-lobby operatives such as Ms. Long.
As it turns out, Ms. Long has not seen proper to respond --herself-- to the comments of Amy Hasbrouck, and that, I believe, most wisely (although I would dearly love see her try). However, persons closely associated with Ms. Long have indeed flown to her defense, actually demanding apologies from both Amy Hasbrouck and the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.
It is perhaps best to ignore the ridiculous basis of such a request, but I do believe it is useful to examine the assumptions of entitlement which seem to have made it possible, since those same entitled assumptions are more widely (and most perniciously) weaponized throughout the underlying debate regarding medical homicide.
Briefly stated: it is widely assumed that the suffering of those people seeking recourse to medical homicide cannot be questioned. And from that first assumption spring several others. First, we tend to accept that such people may make any extreme statements that they like (including the most egregious attacks on other individuals); and second, that any criticism (whatsoever) of such individuals, of their behavior, or of their statements, is simply unacceptable.
However, that which might provide a reasonable standard in private conversation cannot be transported to the realm of discourse surrounding public policy. Unfortunately, in the present case, to accept that individuals seeking medical homicide might benefit from a special "sufferers" privilege --which places their beliefs beyond the reach of any rational criticism-- is also to concede the main point in contention (that acceptance of medical homicide is indeed justified as public policy). And that, in all conscience, we cannot do. For we must also remember the people whose defense we are espousing in opposing such a policy (which paradoxically includes Claire Brosseau, who we hope will achieve recovery from her condition).
It thus becomes necessary for us to confront the uncomfortable fact that what may be spontaneous, in individual communication, becomes strategic at the political level; that without reference to any individual, the exploitation of compassionate sentiment becomes a political tool, or as Polonius so shrewdly remarks in Shakespeare's Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2) "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't".
Without the slightest nuance, when those associated with the death-lobby tell us that we "do not understand", they are crassly attempting to impose upon the best sentiments of good people who do not, indeed, have such experience. But in so doing, they are also ignoring --and attempting to suppress-- the experience and desires of the lion's share of those people who actually do.
When we read Claire Brosseau's passionate diatribe in support of Helen Long (while savagely attacking Amy Hasbrouck, M.P. Andrew Lawton, and by extension so many others) we must remember that Ms. Brosseau's "suffering" cannot reasonably trump that of Ms. Hasbrouck.
More generally, it is simply not true that those who would seek medical homicide are suffering any more than their surviving counterparts. For there is, in fact, no correlation in this regard. Quite to the contrary: the number of people persisting in their struggle to survive (in objectively similar medical circumstances) is vastly greater than those who seek assisted death. For there is no medical circumstance, whatsoever, in which consent to medical homicide might be represented as normal.
When we are told, therefore, that we do not “understand” the suffering of that small minority who would allegedly benefit from assisted death, we must reply that this is false. For we (or at least a great many of us) do indeed understand.
However, unlike the death-lobby we also understand the suffering of the overwhelming majority, whose access to real medical assistance in their own wilful quest to survive, will be significantly degraded by the institutional acceptance of that practice.
Given the need to protect the vital interests of this majority, it is my firm opinion that the suicidal (and their ideological supporters) should be fully satisfied with the simple decriminalization of suicide. It is enough, I believe (and indeed more than enough) that society might view their choice in a morally neutral fashion. It is not desirable that the conceptual ramifications of that choice should be permitted --through official validation-- to pollute the social and medical landscape for the non-suicidal majority.
And indeed, this principle is even more evident when we remember that the dead are truly gone, and that our validation of them has no meaning to themselves.
But those who are struggling --with the consequences of socially validated suicidal acts-- remain among us now, and must continue to live in the world which this ill-advised cult of suicidal adulation has poisoned.
Gordon Friesen,
No medical homicide for mental illness. Support Bill C-218.
Alex Schadenberg Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
I have been busy with speaking engagements, so I didn't report on all of the important issues. While going through my emails I found an article by Frank Bergman that was published by Slaynews on April 15, 2026.
Bergman's article concerns a psychiatrist who presented to the Special Joint Parliamentary MAiD Committee that is examining the issue of euthanasia for mental illness alone. Euthanasia for the sole criteria of mental illness is currently scheduled to begin in Canada on March 17, 2027.
Dr Mona Gupta and MP Andrew Lawton
Psychiatrist Mona Gupta stated during the committee hearing that euthanasia would be permitted for people with eating disorders. Bergman reports:
The disturbing exchange took place during a Special Joint Parliamentary Committee hearing on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD).
During the hearing, a psychiatrist suggested that even non-terminal mental health conditions could qualify someone for taxpayer-funded, state-assisted death.
During questioning, Conservative MP Andrew Lawton pressed Dr. Mona Gupta on whether individuals with depression or eating disorders should be eligible for euthanasia.
“It depends on the circumstances of the person,” said Gupta, a psychiatrist and professor at the University of Montreal.
Lawton followed up directly: “So it could?”
“Potentially,” Gupta admitted.
So let's be clear. People living with eating disorders are experiencing difficult conditions, but these are treatable conditions.
April, in front of Canada’s Special Joint Parliamentary Committee on MAiD, a psychiatrist said the quiet part out loud.
Dr. Mona Gupta former chair of the federal Expert Panel on MAiD and Mental Illness testified before the committee between March 25 and April 2026. When Conservative MP Andrew Lawton asked directly whether depression or eating disorders could qualify someone for assisted death, she replied: “It depends on the circumstances of the person.” That’s it, that’s the answer.
Dr Mona Gupta
Not a no, not a “those conditions fall outside the eligibility framework.” Just it depends. Let me tell you what that answer means in practice, i means the most common mental health diagnoses in this country the ones your kids have, your coworkers have, the ones millions of Canadians are managing right now are being actively contemplated as qualifying conditions for state-assisted death and the federal government’s own hand-picked expert couldn’t rule it out.
This wasn’t a fringe voice. This was the person Ottawa chose to lead the expert panel reviewing whether Canada is ready to expand MAiD to mental illness and her testimony was effectively yes, maybe.
The law currently excludes MAiD where mental illness is the sole underlying condition. But only until March 17, 2027. That date has already been pushed back twice…... Not because the government changed its mind but because it needed more time to get ready.
A committee of 10 MPs and five Senators is currently studying the question. The expansion has been delayed twice in the last three years..they’re not studying whether to do it, they’re studying how.
Here’s what the psychiatric community has actually said the people who treat these patients, not the people who administer death. The Canadian Psychiatric Association, the Canadian Mental Health Association, and the Society of Canadian Psychiatry have all said irremediability cannot be reliably predicted in psychiatric conditions. Eating disorders show long-term remission rates of 50 to 70 percent with appropriate care. Fifty to seventy percent with care.
We’re not offering that care. Wait times for psychiatric services in this country are unconscionable. Beds don’t exist. Therapists are inaccessible. The system is broken and underfunded and everyone knows it, but we’re preparing to offer assisted death to the people falling through its cracks.
Official 2024 figures show 16,499 MAiD provisions across Canada 5.1 percent of all deaths. Track 2 cases for people whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable numbered 732, a 17 percent increase from the previous year. 17 percent increase, in one year, for people who weren’t dying and now the next frontier is people who are depressed, and let’s be very uncomfortably honest here. Have you seen the state of Canada?! Of course young people are depressed!
I’ve said this before and I’ll keep saying it, this isn’t about autonomy. Autonomy requires real options. You can’t call it a free choice when someone is suffering, broke, on a waiting list, and the system hands them a pamphlet for death. That’s not autonomy. That’s a system that decided their life wasn’t worth the cost of fixing.
The parliamentary committee has been asked to complete additional review steps before the 2027 expansion proceeds, reflecting concern about safeguards and implementation readiness.
“Implementation readiness.” That’s the language. Not “is this the right thing to do.” Just are we ready to do it.
They’re not asking the right question and nobody in that committee room is being asked to answer for the people who will die because of their non-answer.
I’m asking. Because someone has to and there is a reason why people like me are not asked to testify on this committee and it’s because myself and others have healed from the same issues their trying to kill you for.
Alex Schadenberg Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Canada's federal government has established another Special Joint parliamentary Committee to examine the implementation of (MAiD) euthanasia for mental illness alone. The committee is composed of 10 Members of Parliament and 5 Senators.
The Members of Parliament on the committee are:
Conservatives: Michael Cooper, Todd Doherty, Tamara Jansen and Andrew Lawton.
Liberals: Hon Helena Jaczek, Annie Koutrakis, James Maloney, Marcus Powlowski and Kristina Tesser Derksen.
Hon. Pierre J. Dalphond, Hon. Yonah Martin, Hon. Rosemary Moodie, Hon. Pamela Wallin, Hon Kristopher David Wells.
The committee should not derail Private Members Bill C-218, which like it's predecessor in the last parliament (Bill C-314) would prevent euthanasia (MAiD) for mental illness alone. Bill C-218 has gained significant traction within the governing Liberal Party. This committee may move the debate into the committee rather than parliament.
Article: Preventing euthanasia for mental illness in Canada. Guide to supporting Bill C-218 (Read).
We are clear. No MAiD for Mental Illness.
Join the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition rally on parliament hill on Monday, April 13 at 12 noon.
For more information, contact us at: info@epcc.ca
When discussing issues related to euthanasia for mental illness alone, a member of parliament will listen to the concern of constituents. There are many people who have lived with mental health issues and suicidal ideation and are happy to be alive. These people may have been killed if euthanasia for mental illness alone were available at their dark time.
My comments about Canada's Senate.
Senators are appointed until the age of 75 and are only responsible to their personal conscience. Justin Trudeau did not appoint Senators based on their political affiliation or as a reward for the work within the Liberal party, but rather he appointed people based on their philosophical beliefs. This is bad news for Canada and bad news for euthanasia in Canada.
Nonetheless, silence is our enemy. We will continue to stand up and speak the truth about euthanasia in general and euthanasia for mental illness alone.
Alex Schadenberg Executive Director Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
As we celebrate the Christmas Season with hope we also celebrate our milestones and successes with hope for the New Year.
We celebrate that today, the EPC blog surpassing 13 Million pageviews. The last year alone, the EPC blog had more than 3.6 Million pageviews.
We regularly receive emails from people from around the world either thanking us for the research and information that is published on the blog or asking us for specific information.
There are more reasons to celebrate.
2025 has been a great challenge, but we are pleased with the success of the Slovenian referendum and our soon-to-be-released film: Life Worth Living.
The film project grew out of our work on the successful Slovenian referendum campaign, as well as our work with partners in Victoria, Australia to prevent the expansion of their assisted suicide law and our promotion of Bill C-218, the bill that is sponsored by Tamara Jansen MP which, if passed, would prevent euthanasia for mental illness alone in Canada.
While working on the film project, we shared excellent footage of interviews concerning Canada’s experience with euthanasia, that was used in the Slovenian referendum. The Slovenian referendum was a great success with 53.5% rejecting the Slovenian euthanasia law that had passed in their national legislature last July.
The Slovenian referendum taught us some important lessons and provided great hope for the future. Some of the lessons concern messaging: euthanasia (MAiD) is about poisoning people to death, do not be afraid to tell the truth, as well as euthanasia concerns healthcare and pension savings. Euthanasia reduces costs by killing people.
We also shared footage with our partners in Victoria, Australia who were working to prevent the expansion of their euthanasia law.
We have not fully recovered the cost of the film, which was around $50,000. Consider making a Christmas donation to EPC and enable us to fully recover the cost of the film.
Donation to the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (Donation Link).
Watch the Trailer for our powerful film Life Worth Living (Trailer Link).
We also created footage to specifically support the passage of Bill C-218. For instance, Alicia Duncan, whose mother died by euthanasia in 2021 based on mental health issues, shared her powerful story and Kelsi Sheren shared her story of living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, after serving Canada in the military in Afghanistan.
The film - Life Worth Living will be available in January. We need our supporters, to organize screenings of the film. You may also want a speaker, such as myself, to lead a discussion forum, after the screening.
The film also features: Roger Foley, a Canadian living with a significant disability who has been pressured by hospital staff to request euthanasia, Dr David D'Souza, a pain specialist in Ontario, Dr Catherine Ferrier, a Gerontologist and a leader of Physicians' Alliance Againt Euthanasia in Quebec, Dr Will Johnston, a family physician and leader of Euthanasia Resistance BC, Kathy Matusiak Costa, Executive Director of Compassionate Community Care and myself.
Press Conference on December 5, 2025
Bill C-218 had its first hour of debate in parliament on December 5, 2025. EPC organized a press conference at the Parliamentary Press Gallery on December 5 that featured: Kelsi Sheren, a military veteran who experienced PTSD. Kelsi is also a social media influencer. Alicia Duncan, whose mother died by euthanasia in 2021 based on mental health issues, Dr Paul Saba a family physician in Lachine Quebec and Alex Schadenberg (myself). Kelsi and Alicia joined by remote link.
After the press conference Dr. Saba and I stayed to witness the Bill C-218 debate in the House of Commons.
Tamara Jansen MP and Andrew Lawton MP gave excellent speeches. Jansen stated in the House of Commons
“If MAID is expanded, we will be forced into an impossible paradox. A suicidal person calling a crisis line is urged to hold on, yet if they request MAID, that same despair may be treated as justification for death. Bill C-218 is necessary to stop the 2027 expansion to mental illness because the evidence cannot support it and the safeguards cannot sustain it. Vulnerable Canadians are already at risk.”
Link to the speech by Tamara Jansen on Bill C-218 (Article Link).
One of our supporters stated on social media: “Well done Tamara Jansen! How could anyone disagree with her arguments.”
Andrew Lawton (MP) spoke about his own experience with mental illness and a suicide attempt 15 years earlier. Lawton stated in the House:
"I would not be here today had I been successful. I would not be here today had I not gotten over the darkest, worst feelings of my life, which anyone could encounter. That is something I believe needs to be understood by those who believe this is an abstract question of legal theory and legal rights. These are real people. There are faces to this. If Bill C-218 does not pass, people will die."
Link to the speech by Andrew Lawton on Bill C-218 (Article Link).
The second hour of debate and vote on Bill C-218 is currently scheduled to be in late March, 2026.
Health Canada released the 2024 euthanasia data on November 28, 2025. The number of euthanasia poisonings increased to 16,499 representing 5.1% of all deaths. Quebec continues to have the highest euthanasia rate in the world, now at 7.9% of all deaths. The number of euthanasia deaths of people who were not terminally ill increased by 17% to 732. We have a lot of work to do. Canada needs a massive culture shift.
Read the article on the Health Canada 2024 euthanasia report (Article Link).
The 2024 report indicated that there were 76,475 (MAiD) euthanasia deaths in Canada from legalization until December 31, 2024.
Based on the 2025 projected increase in euthanasia deaths, 2025 will end with at least 93,500 euthanasia deaths since legalization.
We have hope, and we share hope. Hope is essential in preventing euthanasia, as euthanasia is often requested based on a lack of hope.
You may also want to read Tamara Jansen's speech in the House of Commons on Bill C-218 (Link).
Speech by Andrew Lawton MP (Elgin - St. Thomas - London South) in the House of Commons on December 5, 2025 in support of Bill C-218, the bill that is sponsored by Tamara Jansen MP (Cloverdale - Langley City) amending the law to prevent MAiD for Mental Illness alone in Canada.
Mr. Speaker, it is a great honour to rise and speak to Bill C-218.
In less than a week (December 9, 2010), it will be 15 years since I almost lost my life to suicide. I overdosed. I was in the hospital for seven weeks. For much of it, I was on life support and had to be resuscitated multiple times. Over Christmas, my parents did not know if they would have me as their son, moving forward. It was the culmination of a very dark time in my life that spanned many years, a time in which I felt at multiple times, although not as seriously as I did that horribly dark and sad December day in 2010, that I would be better off dead than alive.
There are many reasons I am so proud to be standing here in this chamber, but one of them is knowing where I have been and where I came from and the fact that there was a time in my life when I never in a million years would have believed that I could ever have the life I have now: a career that I am proud of, an amazing wife whom I love so dearly, these tremendous colleagues and friends I work with every day, and this trust that has been placed in me by the people I represent. None of that would have been possible had I been successful when I attempted to end my life.
I think of my own experience and the experience of many others like me when I reflect on the fact that in just 15 months' time, someone who was in the place I was in 15 years ago will be able to have not only the state's permission but the state's help to end their life by suicide. In March 2027, the criteria for medical assistance in dying are expanding, so someone with only a mental illness, with no physical ailment whatsoever, will be eligible for MAID.
This is a profound expansion and a fundamental inversion of the message that we have spent so much money and so much airtime and so much effort and energy telling Canadians for years, through countless campaigns aimed at ending the stigma surrounding suicide; through more programming, funding and resources to support people with mental illness; and through campaigns telling people that they are better off alive, that they do have a future. They are efforts that we all extend in our own lives to those around us to give messages of hope to those who need it. To put a fine point on this, and to make it personal, because it is personal, if the laws that are coming into force in 15 months had been there 15 years ago, I would probably be dead right now. I say that with full gratitude that I am not.
I did not want to extend a cry for help. I actually had access to resources and treatment. I had a support system. I had a family who loved me. I had these privileges that so many others who struggle with mental illness did not have. Even with all of those available to me, I felt like there was no future. The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel did not exist. I did not want to get better. It was not that I had not tried; I had not tried enough, clearly. However, I felt like I had done my time. I felt like I had put in enough effort to try to get better and when I did not, I had made my decision that I was going to end it. It was not impulsive; it was quite rational, actually. I decided it weeks out. Believe it or not, as silly as it sounds, I had it on my calendar, and I scheduled the day because I had appointments and meetings before it that I did not want to miss, as though that makes any sense at all, as though it would matter if I missed a meeting, given that I was planning on not sticking around.
This is how, when a person is struggling with mental illness, as I was so very seriously, it plays tricks on them. By design, a mental illness is a distortion of the person's ability to see clearly and think clearly about what they are in the midst of. It clouds their judgment. If I had ever gone to a health care worker and said, “I am planning to end my life,” they would have not just a moral but a legal obligation to stop me. They would have legal authority to detain me, because that is how sacrosanct it is that people have a right to recover, that they have a right to live and that medical practitioners must do no harm and protect them from harming themselves. We have a duty to help people.
I talk about my own story, and I have heard so many others like it. After my colleague from Cloverdale—Langley City introduced her bill, I launched the “I got better” campaign, in which I shared my testimony and invited Canadians to share their own. I would like to share some of those in the House today.
A lawyer from here in Ottawa said that they wondered if they would have used MAID if it had been available when they were in their darkest days, or if they would use it in the dark days yet to come.
A man reached out and said he struggles with personal family issues and mental illness. He has very bad days. He has tried attempting suicide before, and he is worried that he will not be stopped in the future if he has more of those dark days and MAID is available to him.
On a more positive note, a woman who was in an abusive relationship for 22 years and wanted to die said, “If MAID had been around then, I would not be here now, and I am damn happy it was not.” I will ask members to pardon the unparliamentary language. She continued, saying, “I am happy now. I have had a fantastic career caring for seniors. I have grandbabies and kids I love. I have a wonderful husband now who means the world to me.”
Another woman said she wanted to end her life many times, but looking back, she is so happy she has a life now where she is happier than she ever was before.
I will share one more about a woman who described two years of agony, with damage to her liver, hospitalizations, dozens of failed medications and a compilation of diagnoses without any real clarity, but she was given a second chance. She had been labelled as chronically unstable and told she had a poor prognosis, was unable to thrive independently and would likely revolve through the system for the rest of her life. She had attempted suicide several times.
There was one doctor who would not give up on her. As she said, “Recovery takes one person, not one pill. It takes one person who believes in you and forces uncomfortable treatment onto you for the sake of the future life that's awaiting you.” That woman went to university, became a social worker to help others, is happily married and, more importantly, is happy.
None of these stories could ever be guaranteed if we were to do what the government is doing in 15 months, which is to license giving up on people at their most vulnerable moments, at their darkest and lowest points.
Of those who die by suicide, 90% are people who have diagnosable mental illness. Physicians have testified before Parliament and its committees that suicide is often contemplated and planned over a long period of time by people who would very easily, as I am confident I would have, go to a doctor to make a rational, logical case that they have tried all of the treatments and they believe that they are better off dead than alive. There was a consensus among psychiatric experts who have testified and spoken about this elsewhere that there is no clear way to separate suicidal ideation as a symptom from a request for a health care practitioner to help in ending one's life.
Dr. John Maher testified before Parliament that 7% of those who attempt suicide die by suicide. That means that 93% of people who, at one or multiple points, want to end their life eventually get over that. The success rate of MAID is 100%. By design, this is a policy that will give up on people.
There are very few things in this chamber that we can say are genuinely life-and-death issues. This is one of them. A few weeks ago we saw that, in 2024, MAID accounted for 5.1% of the deaths in Canada. That is a 1,520% increase over 2016 when it became legal. We are seeing a massive expansion to people who, in the vast majority of cases, will get better. About 50% to 60% of people with mental illness will actually recover with no treatment, and that number is even higher for people who do have treatment available.
I would not be here today had I been successful. I would not be here today had I not gotten over the darkest, worst feelings of my life, which anyone could encounter. That is something I believe needs to be understood by those who believe this is an abstract question of legal theory and legal rights. These are real people. There are faces to this. If Bill C-218 does not pass, people will die. We have a right and a duty to stand up for those who need it. I will be proudly supporting this bill, and I thank my colleague so much for introducing it.
Alex Schadenberg Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Sign our EPC petition: No MAiD for Mental Illness (Link).
Tamara Jansen (MP - Cloverdale - Langley City) introduced private members Bill C-218 in the House of Commons to prevent (MAiD) euthanasia for mental illness alone by excluding mental illness from being considered a "grievous and irremediable medical condition" for the purposes of MAiD. This bill will prevent MAID for mental illness alone.
Andrew Lawton (MP - Elgin - St Thomas - London South) is supporting Bill C-218 to prevent the implementation of MAiD for mental illness alone. In a recent video, Lawton explains that he experienced deep depression 15 years ago and nearly succeeded in dying by suicide. If MAiD for mental illness were permitted in 2011, he wouldn't be alive today.
When Canada expanded the euthanasia law in March 2021, one of the expansions in the law permitted euthanasia (MAiD) for a mental illness alone. At that time the government approved MAiD for mental illness alone with a two-year moratorium to provide time to prepare.
After two delays, the implementation of MAiD for mental illness alone is now scheduled for March 17, 2027. Bill C-218 will prevent the implementation of MAiD for mental illness alone.
For Bill C-218 to be successful, we will need stories from Canadians who have lived with, (or currently live with) mental health concerns and may have died by euthanasia (MAiD) if it had been available at that time. Contact us with your story at: info@epcc.ca
It is not easy to share stories, but the courage to share your suffering may lead to protection for other people.
A February 2023, Angus Reid Institute poll indicated that 31% of Canadians supported euthanasia for mental illness alone, with the highest support being in Quebec (36%) and the lowest support being in Saskatchewan (21%). A September 2023, Angus Reid Institute poll indicated that support for euthanasia for mental illness alone had dropped to 28% of Canadians.
More articles on Bill C-218
Bill C-218 introduced to prevent euthanasia (MAiD) for mental illness alone (Link).
Support Bill C-218. No MAiD for Mental Illness (Link).
I am so thankful to be alive. No MAiD for Mental Illness (Link).
Alex Schadenberg Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
On June 25 I reported that on June 20, 2025, Tamara Jansen (MP - Cloverdale - Langley City) introduced private members Bill C-218 in the House of Commons to prevent euthanasia (MAiD) for mental illness by excluding mental illness from being defined as a "grievous and irremediable medical condition" for the purposes of MAiD. Bill C-218 will prevent MAID for mental illness alone.
Sign the petition in support of Bill C-218 (Link).
When the Canadian government expanded the euthanasia law in March 2021 by passing Bill C-7, one of the expansions in the law permitted euthanasia for a mental illness alone. At that time the government approved euthanasia for mental illness alone with a two-year moratorium to give time to prepare.
After two delays, last year the government further delayed the implementation of euthanasia for mental illness alone until March 17, 2027
On July 9, A media conference was held by MP's Tamara Jansen and Andrew Lawton in support of Bill C-218. The MP's were joined by Graydon Nicholas (former Judge, Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick and First Nations Advocate) and Alicia Duncan, whose mother died by euthanasia (MAiD) after experiencing a brain injury from a car accident.
Conservative MPs Tamara Jansen (Cloverdale-Langley City, BC) and Andrew Lawton (Elgin-St. Thomas-London South, ON) have reintroduced Bill C-218, which would amend the Criminal Code to prevent mental illness from qualifying as the sole criterion for medical assistance in dying (MAiD).
Andrew Lawton MP
Hodgson reported what Andrew Lawton said at the press conference:
Lawton, speaking at a press conference Wednesday, said he is a suicide survivor, having attempted to kill himself in 2010 after a battle with his mental health. He said if MAiD had been an option back then, he might have been tempted to accept it.
“C-18 will save lives,” said Lawton.
“Fifteen years ago, I very nearly succeeded in ending my life to suicide,” he said, explaining this was the culmination of a years-long battle with mental illness.
“People who went through what I went through 15 years ago believe that their life would get better,” said Lawton.
“I never would have believed (then) that I would be standing here today as a member of Parliament, as a husband, as someone that has a life I am so happy with.”
“And that’s only because I had the care and support I needed to go through what I did and come out the other side.”
“The message that I share with anyone struggling with mental illness is that I got better.”
“There is hope.”
“The people struggling have a right to recovery.”
“I am not convinced that I would be here today if MAiD were available 15 years ago for people with mental illness.”
For Bill C-218 to be
successful, we will need stories from Canadians who have lived with, (or
currently live with) mental health concerns and who may have died by euthanasia
(MAiD) if it had been available at that time. Contact us with your story at: info@epcc.ca Hodgson interviewed Lawton on July 10. Hodgson reported:
“I think we need to put a human face on this. This isn't just an abstract thing. This is something that affects very real people and very real stories that are not just my own, but shared by millions of Canadians and their families,” Lawton told the Western Standard Thursday.
Lawton said the bill has been slotted in for debate and a second reading in the fall parliamentary session, and they are estimating that it will take place in November or December.
He added he is hoping for a cross-party appeal, which means MPs can vote with their convictions rather than based on party lines.
“So I'm hoping we can build off of that and get some more support from Liberal members of parliament so that we can just pass this. This is too important to be a partisan issue,” said Lawton.
Sign the petition in support of Bill C-218 (Link).
Alicia Duncan
Alicia Duncan told the story of how her mother died by MAiD in 2021. Malin Jordon reporting for the Cloverdale-Langley Reporter wrote:
Alicia Duncan said her mother Donna was suffering from mental health issues in Abbotsford in 2021.
She had been in a car accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury.
She called the laws surrounding MAID “poorly legislated” and said her mother struggled for 20 months to get help that would have made difference in her life.
Duncan found out two days ahead of time that her mother was scheduled to go in for medical-assisted suicide.
“My sister and I—knowing that she had no terminal diagnosis, no diagnosis other than depression—(knew) something was very wrong,” Duncan said. “We believed that we could stop this because surely the law would protect someone like my mom in a mental health crisis.”
Alicia Duncan said that:
“I am terrified of what will happen in March 2027 if we allow this to expand for people that do have a mental health condition.”
Canada has currently approved that euthanasia for mental illness will begin in March 2027.
MP Tamara Jansen’s The Right to Recover Act will save countless lives. It says that mental illness is not sufficient grounds for Medical Assistance in Dying. Thanks to MP @AndrewLawton for courageously sharing his story.
Our loved ones suffering with their mental health deserve support, not assisted death from the government. Recovery is possible. We will not give up on them.
Bill C-218 will require support from many Liberal MP's in order to pass. Lawton is absolutely correct to say that real stories are needed.
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