People do not want to die they want their suffering to be relieved.

Dr Peter Blusanovic

This speech was delivered by Dr. Peter Blusanovics at the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Parliamentary Press conference on April 13, 2026.

My name is Dr. Peter Blusanovics, I am a Montreal family physician who has been practicing for over 30 years. I have experienced helping patients in offices, in emergency rooms and in mental health institutions. and I have treated many with mental illnesses in these settings.

And that’s why I’m here today. I want to provide a voice for our most vulnerable, those who have and are suffering from mental health.

Bill C-218 needs to pass to put a stop to euthanasia for people with mental illness.

Basic needs are not currently being met in our health care system.

Without Bill C-218, we are condoning a bypass towards suicide, and blatantly admitting defeat.

Mental illness needs to be properly identified and treated. These Individuals do not want to die they want their suffering to be relieved.

But there is currently lack of medical support, such as physicians, psychologist and social workers. There is lack of access to psychiatric support and long waiting lists before being assessed. There is lack of financial support: lack of housing, economic security and support from family and significant others.

I will say it again that I am here to provide a voice for our most vulnerable.

I know that offering medical aid in dying provides no solution.

Everyone deserves the right to be treated with dignity and with humanity.

We are supposed to be a mature and evolved society that needs to take care of its most vulnerable.

We need to realize that the lack of proper care in our health care systems is not a good enough excuse, to offer assisted suicide as a solution.

Je m’appelle Dr. Peter Blusanovics, je suis médecin de famille à Montréal où je travail depuis plus de 30 ans. J’ai eu l’occasion d’aider des patients en cabinet, aux urgences et dans des établissements de santé mentale, et j’ai soigné de nombreuses personnes atteintes de troubles mentaux dans ces contextes.

C’est pourquoi je suis ici aujourd’hui. Je souhaite faire entendre la voix de nos plus vulnérables, ceux qui souffrent ou ont souffert de troubles mentaux.

Le projet de loi C-218 doit être adopté pour mettre fin à l’euthanasie des personnes atteintes de troubles mentaux.

Les besoins fondamentaux ne sont actuellement pas satisfaits dans notre système de santé.

Sans ce projet de loi, nous tolérons un contournement menant au suicide et admettons ouvertement notre échec.

Les maladies mentales doivent être correctement identifiées et traitées. Ces personnes ne veulent pas mourir, elles veulent que leurs souffrances soient soulagées.

Mais il y a actuellement un manque de soutien médical, notamment de médecins, de psychologues et de travailleurs sociaux. L’accès au soutien psychiatrique est limité et les listes d’attente sont longues. Il y a un manque de soutien financier : manque de logements, de sécurité économique et de soutien de la part de la famille et des proches.

Je le répète : je suis ici pour donner une voix aux plus vulnérables d’entre nous.

Je sais que l’aide médicale à mourir n’apporte aucune solution.

Tout le monde a le droit d’être traité avec dignité et humanité.

Nous sommes censés être une société mature et évoluée qui se doit de prendre soin de ses membres les plus vulnérables. Nous devons prendre conscience que l'insuffisance des soins dans nos systèmes de santé ne constitue pas une excuse suffisante pour proposer le suicide assisté comme solution.

EPC: Physicians urge Canadian government not to expand euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Peter Blusanovics, Alex Schadenberg, Paul Saba

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) urges Canadians to sign our petition in support of Bill C-218. (Petition Link).

The EPC held a successful bilingual press conference at the Parliamentary Press Gallery on the morning of Monday, April 13 before our rally on Parliament Hill.

(Link to the full video of the Press Conference)

Brian Passifiume reported on the EPC Press Conference for the Toronto Sun on April 13. Passifiume outlines the article by stating that Canada is set to widen eligibility criteria for euthanasia next year. Passifiume reports:

During a Monday morning news conference in West Block, members of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition offered their support for Bill C-218, a private member’s bill intended to prevent next year’s inclusion of mental illness as the sole medical condition for seeking physician-assisted suicide.

Dr Peter Blusanovics

Dr Peter Blusanovics, a physician from Montreal Quebec with 30 years experience caring for patients in psychiatric wards. Passifiume reported him saying:

“I want to provide a voice to our most vulnerable, those who have or are suffering from mental illness,”

“Basic needs are currently not being met in our healthcare system. Without (Bill C-218,) we are condoning a bypass towards suicide, and blatantly admitting defeat.”

Mental illness, he said, needs to be identified and treated. He said those seeking to commit medical suicide aren’t seeking death, but healing.

“There is a current lack of medical support, such as physicians, psychologists, social workers — there is a lack of psychiatric support and long waiting lists to be assessed,” said Blusanovics, a physician at a Montreal psychiatric hospital.

Passifiume stated that Canada plans to extend euthanasia to people with psychiatric conditions alone starting on March 17, 2027. Passifiume reports that:

Patients seeking MAID are assigned to one of two tracks: Track one for those with terminal illnesses or whom natural death is near; and track two for those whose death is not a reasonable outcome in the foreseeable future.

Although Statistics Canada doesn’t include MAID in its annual top-10 list of most common causes of death, government figures said 16,499 Canadians died via MAID in 2024 — making medical suicide that year’s fourth most common cause of death between accidents (20,260) and strokes (13,725.)

Passifiume explained that MP Tamara Jansen introduced Bill C-218 last year to stop the implementation of euthanasia for mental illness alone in March 2027.

Dr Paul Saba

Passifiume then commented on the statements by Dr Paul Saba, a family physician from Lachine Quebec who said:

there’s no way for most psychiatrists to determine which patients’ conditions are untreatable.

“From a legal standpoint, those with mental disorders requesting euthanasia, which has been euphemistically called ‘medical assistance in dying,’ do not meet the condition of free and informed consent, because the desire to die in most cases is a symptom of mental illness,”

Passifiume ends his article by commenting on the Alberta governments proposed changes through Bill 18 to there provincial euthanasia protocols. Passifiume reports:

Last month, Alberta’s provincial legislature tabled a bill that would prevent their physicians from prescribing MAID for track two patients — citing patient safety and growing skepticism for the federal government’s efforts to expand MAID eligibility.

“The consequences of the decision are permanent and irrevocable, and because of this, we have an obligation to consider MAID with the utmost care and caution,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said at a news conference in Edmonton last month.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition urges Canadians to sign our petition in support of Bill C-218. (Petition Link).