Canada's disabled deserve supports, not faster path to death

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Krista Carr

Krista Carr, the CEO of Inclusion Canada had a special article published in the London Free Press on June 15, 2026.

This article was published two days before the report of the Special Joint Euthanasia Committee report recommending that the Canadian government not extend euthanasia to mental illness alone.

Carr explains that the Canada's original euthanasia law that was passed in 2016 was essentially limited to people with a terminal condition who were suffering.

Carr suggests that most Canadians believe that the law remains the same, but in fact Canada's law was expanded in 2021 to include people with disabilities who are not terminally ill. Carr explains:

But Canada’s MAID framework has evolved significantly since then. In 2021, Parliament expanded the law through Bill C-7, creating two pathways for assisted death. The first pathway applies to people whose natural death is imminent and expected soon (reasonably foreseeable).

The second — known as “Track 2” — allows separate access to MAID for individuals with disabilities who are not dying.

This expansion fundamentally changed the scope of assisted dying in Canada.

Track 2 means that assisted suicide may be available to people living with disabilities even when they are not nearing the end of life. Thousands of Canadians have already accessed MAID through this pathway. Between 2021 and 2024, a total of 2,050 people died from Track 2 MAID.

Carr explains the significance with expanding the law.

People with disabilities and disability organizations across the country have warned that Track 2 creates serious risks. Many individuals seeking MAID have described suffering related not to medical conditions alone but to poverty, housing insecurity, social isolation or lack of disability supports.

These are not medical failures. They are social failures.

For people with intellectual disabilities and many others in the disability community, the concern is straightforward: no one should feel that assisted suicide is easier to access than the supports needed to live with dignity.

Carr suggests that Canada's euthanasia law combined with homelessness, poverty and a gap in disability supports, combined poor access to mental health and community supports has created a serious problem for people with disabilities. Carr writes:

Against this broken backdrop, expanding assisted death beyond end-of-life situations risks sending a troubling message — that the suffering created by social inequality can be addressed through assisted suicide rather than social reform.

And now Parliament is once again debating whether to expand MAID further to also include mental illness. But what happened to suicide prevention? Are people with disabilities not entitled to the same suicide prevention as everyone else?

Carr then comments on the recent parliamentary hearings by the Special Joint Committee on Medical Aid in Dying, that yesterday recommended to parliament that euthanasia for mental illness not be implemented in Canada. Carr continued

Legitimate questions have been raised about whether Canada’s current framework adequately protects people who are living with structural disadvantage. 

These questions are now before the courts. A coalition of disability organizations, including Inclusion Canada, has launched a Charter challenge arguing that Track 2 violates equality rights and the right to life guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The case asks whether Canada’s laws are discriminating against people with disabilities by allowing assisted death in circumstances where death is not imminent. 

Canadians should agree on one principle: people with disabilities deserve the same commitment to dignity, support and opportunity as anyone else. 

Persons with disabilities deserve the same response other Canadians receive when they are suffering: investment in supports, housing, and mental health services, not a faster path to death. Our politicians should be helping people live meaningful lives, not end them.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition supports the challenge by Inclusion Canada to eliminate Track 2 euthanasia (people who are not otherwise dying). We agree that Canada's euthanasia law focuses on killing people with disabilities with Track 2 cases being exclusively for people with disabilities.

We also thank Krista Carr and Inclusion Canada for their leadership. 

90 disability and mental health groups call on parliament to halt euthanasia for mental illness.

May 25, 2026

Ottawa, ON — A group of more than 90 disability and mental health organizations from all provinces and territories are calling on Parliament to permanently halt the planned expansion of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) scheduled to take effect on March 17, 2027.

(Note: The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition signed the Inclusion Canada letter)

The groups have sent an open letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, Justice Minister and Attorney General Sean Fraser, and Health Minister Marjorie Michel. The letter was copied to the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (AMAD) comprised of MPs and Senators. The committee is currently studying whether to expand MAiD for people whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness. It is poised to file a report before the parliamentary summer break.

The organizations are calling for the government to repeal the section of Canada’s MAiD law that establishes a timeline for legalization, commonly referred to as the “sunset clause.” Acting on this recommendation would result in a permanent exclusion of mental illness as a sole underlying condition for MAiD.

Mental health-related disability is among the fastest growing disabilities in Canada. One in three Canadians will meet the criteria for a mental disorder during their lifetime, and suicidality is associated with many of these diagnoses.

Inclusion Canada is one of the national organizations that have mobilized in this collective effort. CEO Krista Carr says the federal government should improve the lives of citizens – not end them. It can do so through better income supports, safe and accessible inclusive housing, accessible mental health care, employment and other community-based services to allow people to live with dignity.

“People with disabilities and mental illness who face poverty, housing insecurity, social isolation, and barriers to timely health care need help and hope — not MAiD,” said Carr.

Growing Concerns About Track 2 MAiD

The organizations point to growing evidence that marginalized Canadians are disproportionately represented among those currently accessing the second pathway of MAiD.

Known as Track 2 MAiD, this pathway is available to people with disabilities whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable. Most recent federal data reveal six out of 10 people who died as a result of Track 2 MAiD were women. Many were also reported as living in low-income neighbourhoods, residing in long-term care, experiencing isolation or loneliness, perceiving themselves to be a burden, facing housing instability, or requiring psychosocial supports.

People with Mental Illness can already qualify for MAiD

Under the current law, people living with mental illness may already qualify for MAiD if they have a co-occurring illness, disease, or disability and meet existing eligibility requirements. Expanding the law further to include mental illness as the sole underlying condition would make assisted suicide available to people who are not near end of life and need not have a co-occurring physical condition.

The organizations warn this would represent “a significant and misguided expansion” of Canada’s assisted suicide regime. Experts have cautioned that, in practice, the definition of “mental illness” could encompass a broad range of mental disorders.

“While some argue that MAiD is distinct from suicide, Health Canada defines suicide as ‘the intentional act of ending one’s life,’” the organizations state in their letter. “MAiD for mental illness clearly falls under this umbrella.”

“Families across Canada are deeply worried about what this expansion would mean for people already struggling to access adequate mental health care, housing, income supports and community services,” said Moira Wilson, President of Inclusion Canada. “At a time when so many people are asking for help to live with dignity, Canada should not be expanding access to assisted death for those experiencing mental illness.”

Facts

From 2021 to 2024, 2,050 Canadians have died from through Track 2 MAiD, where their death was not reasonably foreseeable.

In its 2025 Concluding Observations on Canada, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities called on Canada to repeal Track 2 MAiD, halt the planned expansion to mental illness and bring its MAiD regime into compliance with Canada’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

Inclusion Canada and three other national disability organizations along with two individual plaintiffs, launched a charter challenge in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice asking that Track 2 MAiD be struck down.

About Inclusion Canada

Inclusion Canada is the national federation of 13 provincial/territorial member organizations and over 300 local associations working to advance the full inclusion and human rights of people with intellectual disabilities and their families. Inclusion Canada drives social change by strengthening families, defending rights, and transforming communities into places where everyone belongs. 

Media Contact

Andrew Holland, Director of Communications and Marketing
aholland@inclusioncanada.ca
(506) 259-1635

 

More CBC euthanasia (MAiD) propaganda.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

CBC news is once again providing one-sided propaganda of killing by euthanasia (MAiD) in Canada. This time the CBC News article written by Emily Rae Pasiuk attacks Bill 18, the Alberta government bill that provides oversight for euthanasia in Alberta

Essentially Bill 18 requires a person to have a 12 month terminal prognosis and the person would need to ask for euthanasia rather than have the doctor offer it. 

Bill 18 also prevents the further expansion of euthanasia in Alberta.

Pasiuk uses the typical CBC News propaganda style. She quotes from one group that supports Bill 18 and then includes several stories opposing Bill 18. 

Worst of all, she creates a false mystique around Bill 18 to rile up the readers.

The reference for Pasiuk's article is a letter published in the Edmonton Journal on March 27 that was signed by 25 euthanasia (MAiD) providers who oppose Bill 18. Pasiuk states:

Some health-care workers who either directly provide medical assistance in dying or work in that field say they are strongly opposed to Bill 18 — which, if passed, would prevent doctors or nurse practitioners from administering MAID to patients if they are unlikely to die within the next 12 months.

"The proposed mandates and sanctions place clinicians in ethically untenable positions, undermining professional judgment and eroding trust within the therapeutic relationship," the letter reads, in part.

Pasiuk does quote Trish Bowman the CEO of the disability rights group Inclusion Alberta, who said:

"We know it reinforces incredibly negative and dangerous stereotypes about the value and worth of the lives of people with disabilities. And so we're very pleased to see this legislation today that serves to protect them," Bowman said on the day the bill was introduced.

Pasiuk then interviews Judy McPherson, whose son Brian, was killed by euthanasia (MAiD) last year. Brian was a Paralympic athlete who was featured in several previous CBC articles as an example of a person with disabilities who was killed by euthanasia. Pasiuk made sure to follow Bowman's short quote with McPherson's story. 

Dr Adrian Wagg who has done hundreds of "euthanasia assessments" was quoted next. Pasiuk writes:

He said a lot of track 2 requests have involved chronic neurodegenerative diseases; things like ALS, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis for individuals who, "in their opinion, have no quality of life and are suffering daily. And those individuals would be ineligible."

It is important to note that Wagg has not only done hundreds of assessments, he has killed hundreds of people. Referring to assessments is less controversial than referring to deaths.

Nonetheless, Wagg is suggesting that some people with ALS, Parkinson's disease or MS have "no quality of life." I have known many people with these conditions, so I am not negating the difficulty of living with these conditions, but Wagg is actually saying that they are "better off dead." In the current culture Wagg is upheld as compassionate. In reality Wagg's attitude is eugenic as he supports killing people with disabilities.

Eugenics is a very dangerous ideology. Inclusion Canada, and other leading disability groups recognize that Track 2 euthanasia deaths (killing someone who is not terminally ill) always concerns a person with a disability and is based on a eugenic ideology that some people need to be killed.

What does Alberta Bill 18 actually do?

Bill 18 will create greater oversight of (MAiD) euthanasia in Alberta through their provincial powers and it accomplishes a few key outcomes. Bill 18 will:

• require the individual to have a 12 month terminal prognosis, thus preventing Track 2 euthanasia approvals. Track 2 refers to euthanasia for people who are not terminally ill.
• prevent the expansion of euthanasia to people with mental illness alone, 
• prevent the expansion of euthanasia to "mature minors", prevent euthanasia for people who cannot consent, prevent euthanasia by advanced request.
• prevent out of province referrals,
• require the assessor to contact other practitioners who have cared for the patient, before approval.
• require (MAiD) euthanasia practitioners to receive specific training,
• prevent health care practitioners from introducing euthanasia, without a request,
• require Regulatory Colleges to sanction practitioners who violate the act.
• provide conscience rights by enabling practitioners to refuse to participate or provide assessments for (MAiD) euthanasia,
• enable institutions to refuse to participate or provide assessments for euthanasia,
• practitioners who refuse to participate or provide assessments to provide information to patients wanting to access euthanasia.

Alberta Health Services released its 2025 (MAiD) euthanasia data indicating that there were 1,242 reported euthanasia deaths in Alberta which was up by more than 11% from 1,117 in 2024. Alberta represents 11.8% of Canada's population.

CBC is known for it's pro-death ideology and reporting. Emily Rae Pasiuk's report is one of many ideologically based propaganda articles promoting killing by euthanasia (MAiD).

Canadian Government Ignores UN Scrutiny Over Euthanasia Law.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Breach published an article by Simon Spichak on February 11, 2026 concerning how Canada has ignored the scathing report UN Committee on Disability Rights on Canada's euthanasia law.

A press release from Inclusion Canada on March 26, 2025 explained that the report from the UN Committee on Disability Rights that called for Canada, among other recommendations, to: Repeal Track 2 Medical Assistance in Dying (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.

Spichak writes in the Breach how Canada's federal government has ignored this recommendation. Spichak writes:

When the United Nations released a scathing report on Canada’s treatment of disabled people last spring—calling out inadequate financial supports and urging Ottawa to halt the expansion of medical assistance in dying—the federal government was silent. 

Nearly a year later, it still is.

Spichak gained access to internal government emails indicating that the government expected little scrutiny of the report and further the government eliminated the Minister for Disability.

The disability movement are not surprised. Spichak reports:

The UN report and its recommendations weren’t “surprising to anyone listening to the disabled community,” said Gabrielle Peters, a disabled writer and policy analyst and co-founder of the Disability Filibuster. Disabled Canadians, she said, expressed the same concerns in government testimony, to the media, and to “anyone who would listen.”

Spichak contacted federal government departments to find out if they are planning to act on the report and was told that they are "reviewing" the report. Spichak states:

...But the government has not publicly responded to the findings nor has it committed to holding public consultations on how they will be implemented.

This is not the first time that the federal government has been tight lipped about United Nations criticism of Canada's euthanasia law. Spichak explains:

Three UN human rights experts cautioned Canada in 2021 about MAiD expansion but did not receive a formal response.

The United Nations further challenged Canada's euthanasia law in March 2025. Spichak writes:

In March 2025 Canadian officials met in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss Canada’s track record on disability. They were asked to justify how the expansion of MAiD differs from “state-sponsored eugenics.”

Rosemary Kayess, vice-chair of the UN’s disability rights committee, questioned officials about the 2021 creation of the Track 2 pathway for MAiD. Track 2 expands access to medical euthanasia to people with significant and irreversible medical conditions, whose deaths are not foreseeable, if they experience what the law defines as “substantial suffering.”

Kayess challenged Canadian officials concerning Track 2 MAiD because Track 2 euthanasia approvals apply specifically to people with disabilities. The UN Committee was not pleased with the response of the Canadian officials. Spichak explains:

The UN committee was not satisfied with the responses they received. In a report they released a month later, they argued the federal court case that led to the creation of Track 2 MAiD established euthanasia based on “negative, ableist perceptions of the quality and value of the life of persons with disabilities.” It implied, they said, that suffering is intrinsic to disability rather than that “inequality and discrimination cause and compound ‘suffering.’”

In line with many disabled advocates, the committee argued that providing MAiD to disabled individuals allows the government “to enable their death without providing safeguards that guarantee the provision of support.”

Spichak then commented on the Ontario Office of the Chief Coroner's MAiD reports:

According to the Ontario Office of the Chief Coroner, as well as federal government reports, women and marginalized individuals are more likely to access Track 2 MAiD. One woman, referred to as Mrs. B, was euthanized within one day because her husband was “experiencing caregiver burden.” The woman, who was in her 80s, experienced complications after a coronary artery bypass graft.

Critics also say MAiD advocates often ignore the role that systemic deprivation —including poverty, inadequate services, lack of access to publicly funded psychotherapy, and social isolation—has in shaping who seeks assisted death.

In 2022, a 51-year old woman known as Sophia, who lived with multiple chemical sensitivity, accessed MAiD after being unable to secure affordable housing with adequate ventilation that would ease her symptoms.

Spichak suggests that the UN Committee on Disability Rights reports may have delayed the implementation of euthanasia in Canada to people with mental illness alone. Currently Canada's federal government has scheduled the implementation of euthanasia for mental illness alone for March 17, 2027.

Spichak states that the euthanasia lobby consider denying euthanasia for mental illness alone is illogical and discriminatory while opposition to euthanasia for mental illness alone argue that:

...it has so far proved impossible to determine whether someone’s mental illness is truly untreatable. The International Association for Suicide Prevention, an official partner of the UN, echoed similar concerns.

Spichak continues by explaining that the federal government has established no consultation process on the United Nations recommendations. Health Canada told Spichak that they were having a closed door round table meeting on February 26 to discuss the United Nations recommendations.

Gabrielle Peters questioned whether government funded disability charities and non-profits who receive at least 50% of their funding from the federal government will be capable of providing a - “controlled opposition” to government policy. Peters called the government's consultation on disability:

“An illusion of involvement that props up a policy of horror disguised by euphemisms and omissions.”

The article further discusses the response by the federal government to the UN Committee on Disability Rights report on Canada's euthanasia law and concludes:

Almost a year after the report’s release, there is no plan to substantially act on any of the UN’s recommendations. Government officials guessed right: mainstream news outlets have largely ignored the report’s criticisms of MAiD. Meanwhile, the situation for disabled Canadians—the poverty, health-care inequity, and other systemic neglect contributing to these deaths—remains unchanged.

The government has ignored the concerns of the disability community concerning Canada's euthanasia law as they continue to move towards more killing by euthanasia.

More articles on this topic:

• How euthanasia fails Canada's most vulnerable (Link).
• Shouldn't care come before euthanasia? (Link). 
• The International disability rights community is concerned with Canada's euthanasia law (Link).
• UN demands change: Canada must end MAiD for people without terminal illness (Link).
  
• United Nations Committee directs Canada to repeal Track 2 euthanasia deaths (Link).
• Canada's euthanasia deaths continue to rise with approximately 16,500 euthanasia deaths in 2024 (Link).
• Has Canada's euthanasia law gone too far (Link).

MAiD has made Canadians with disabilities often afraid of the healthcare system.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Krista Carr

During a Canadian parliament Finance Committee hearing Krista Carr, the CEO of Inclusion Canada, which is a national federation of people with disabilities, stated that:

People with disabilities are now very much afraid in many circumstances to show up in the healthcare system with regular concerns because often MAiD is suggested as the solution to what is considered to be intolerable suffering that happens to be caused by some of the things that this committee addresses like poverty and the situations that people with disabilities disproportionately find themselves in compared to other Canadians.

This is explosive testimony from Krista Carr that she shares without prompting. Parliament must protect people with disabilities and all Canadians accessing healthcare.

Canada's euthanasia (MAiD) law allows medical professionals to offer euthanasia rather than only discussing the topic when people ask about it.

Contact your Member of Parliament to bring this issue to their attention.

If you have a story about feeling pressured to consider euthanasia (MAiD) please contact info@epcc.ca

The International disability rights community is concerned with Canada's euthanasia law.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Sarah Ritchie reported for the Canadian Press on June 19, 2025 that Canada's Liberal government is giving no sign if it intends to amend existing legislation on medical assistance in dying — something a UN committee called for earlier this spring.

On March 21, 2025; the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Committee’s Concluding Observations on Canada’s Disability Rights Record report was released. Among the many recommendations, Sections 19 and 20 of the UN Committee report outlined their response to Canada's (MAiD) euthanasia law. (Link to the report).

Section 20 of the report urged the Canadian government to:

(a) Repeal Track 2 Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), including the 2027 commencement of Track 2 MAiD for persons whose “sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness”;

(b) Not support proposals for the expansion of MAiD to include “mature minors” and advance requests;

Ritchie explains that the report stated:

“(T)he concept of ‘choice’ creates a false dichotomy, setting up the premise that if persons with disabilities are suffering, it is valid for (Canada) to enable their death without providing safeguards that guarantee the provision of support,”

Canada's federal government has scheduled to allow euthanasia for mental illness (alone) beginning in March, 2027. A report by the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (AMAD) that was tabled in the House of Commons in February, 2023 called for an expansion of euthanasia to include children "mature minors" and patients with mental illnesses and that patients with dementia be permitted to make an advance request for euthanasia.

Ritchie reported that The federal minister responsible for disabilities spoke at a hearing of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities last week, about two months after the committee called on Canada to repeal the 2021 law that expanded eligibility for assisted dying to those whose deaths were not reasonably foreseeable.

According to Ritchie Government Minister Patty Hajdu stated:

“It’s about, for me, making relationships in this space and making sure that I have a really strong connection with the community, which I think is really important to be a good minister,” she said in an interview after the speech.

Her address did not cite the committee’s report, which was released in late March as the federal election got underway.

A spokesperson for Minister Hajdu said the government thanks the committee for its report. Ritchie reported a spokesperson as stating:

“MAID is a deeply personal choice. We will make sure that the rights of persons with disabilities are upheld and protected,” said Jennifer Kozelj.

Ritchie restated that the report said that the committee is “extremely concerned” about Canada’s policy on track 2 medical assistance in dying.

Disability rights groups in Canada have argued the law singles out people with disabilities who are suffering because they’re unable to access proper support. Ritchie reported:

Last September, Inclusion Canada was among a group of organizations that filed a Charter of Rights challenge against what’s known as track 2 MAID.

In court documents, they argued the law “allows people with disabilities to access state-funded death in circumstances where they cannot access state-funded supports they need to make their suffering tolerable.”

The organization’s CEO, Krista Carr, said she wants to see Ottawa deliver an action plan on implementing the recommendations in the UN report.

“It was crystal clear — the United Nations said they need to repeal track 2 medical assistance in dying,” she said.

Garnett Genuis, the Conservative employment critic, also attended the UN event. Ritchie reported:

Genuis is worried about Canada’s international reputation being harmed by what he called Ottawa’s. “failures to uphold our obligations to protect the rights of people with living with disabilities.”

“There is a lot of concern internationally within the disability rights community about what’s happening in Canada around euthanasia and people living with disabilities,” he said.

Richie asked other federal Ministers and received these responses:

The offices of Health Minister Marjorie Michel and Justice Minister Sean Fraser did not say whether Ottawa is considering changes to the assisted dying law as a result of the report.

A spokesman for Michel cited strict eligibility requirements and “multiple robust safeguards” in the current law.

Ritchie reported on why Canada expanded its euthanasia law, and it's effect.

Canada’s medical assistance in dying law was updated in 2021 after the Quebec Court of Appeal found that limiting access to people whose deaths were reasonably foreseeable amounted to discrimination.

The federal government opted not to take that ruling to the Supreme Court, and instead changed the law to broaden eligibility.

The latest annual report on medical assistance in dying shows that 622 of the 15,343 people who had an assisted death in 2023 were part of that track 2. They included 210 people who self-identified as having a disability.

More articles on this topic:

• United Nations Committee directs Canada to repeal Track 2 euthanasia deaths (Link).
• Canada's euthanasia deaths continue to rise with approximately 16,500 euthanasia deaths in 2024 (Link).
• Has Canada's euthanasia law gone too far (Link).

Conservatives pledge to not expand Canada's euthanasia law.

Alex Schadenberg

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director,
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

At a Ottawa campaign event on April 12, Pierre Poilievre, stated that, if elected, a Conservative government would not expand eligibility for (MAiD) euthanasia, but pledged that Canadians would continue to have access to MAiD.

The Globe and Mail report on April 12 emphasized that Poilievre will not expand euthanasia, in March 2027, to include people with mental illness alone.

Krista Carr

An article by Stephanie Taylor that was published in the National Post on April 12, interviewed Krista Carr, the CEO of Inclusion Canada. Taylor wrote:

Krista Carr ... welcomes Poilievre’s commitment not to expand assisted dying any further, she hopes he means that Canadians who are terminally ill would continue to have access, not those whose deaths are not deemed “reasonably foreseeable.”

She wants all federal parties, including the Conservatives, which Carr noted fought against widening access when the bill was before Parliament, to change the law to return the eligibility criteria to require that someone be determined to be close to death to qualify for an assisted death.

The current law is “very discriminatory” towards the disabilities community, she said.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition opposes all euthanasia deaths, but we recognize that stopping the expansion of euthanasia is necessary.

On April 1, 2025 I published an article titled: Elections have consequences. Vote for candidates that will oppose further expansions to euthanasia.

This is an important election for Canadians who oppose killing people.

Canada's euthanasia law has continually expanded. Canada's 2023 euthanasia report stated that there were 15,343 reported euthanasia deaths representing 4.7% of all deaths.

The Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario released a report from the Ontario MAiD Death review Committee indicating that there were at least 428 non-compliant Ontario euthanasia deaths from 2018 to 2023.

Canada's federal government has scheduled to allow euthanasia for mental illness (alone) beginning on March 17, 2027. A report by the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (AMAD) that was tabled in the House of Commons on February 15, 2023 called for an expansion of euthanasia to include children "mature minors" and patients with mental illnesses and that patients with dementia be permitted to make advance requests for euthanasia.

On March 21, 2025 the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Committee report urged Canada's federal government to:

• Repeal Track 2 Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), including the 2027 commencement of Track 2 MAiD for persons whose “sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness”;
•  Not support proposals for the expansion of MAiD to include “mature minors” and through advance requests;

Before you vote remember that elections have consequences.

United Nations Committee directs Canada to repeal Track 2 euthanasia deaths

PRESS RELEASE: “Do Better” – Inclusion Canada Welcomes UN Committee’s Concluding Observations on Canada’s Disability Rights Record

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MARCH 26, 2025

OTTAWA, ON – Canada has received a critical review by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the CRPD Committee). Canada has been directed to repeal Track 2 medical assistance in dying (MAiD), raise the “woefully inadequate” Canada Disability Benefit rate, and address regional disparities in how the CRPD is applied.

Track 2 MAiD is for people with disabilities whose deaths are not reasonably foreseeable.

The CRPD committee says it “is based on negative, ableist perceptions of the quality and value of the life of persons with disabilities, including that ‘suffering’ is intrinsic to disability rather than the fact that inequality and discrimination cause and compound ‘suffering’ for persons with disabilities.”

“The UN is clear that our country must do better in upholding the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities,” says Krista Carr, CEO of Inclusion Canada, “A top priority is Track 2 MAiD – a real and dangerous threat to the lives of people with intellectual disabilities. It must be repealed.”

Among the key recommendations, the UN Committee has urged Canada to:

• Repeal Track 2 Medical Assistance in Dying (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,
• Implement a coordinated deinstitutionalization strategy across federal, provincial, and territorial governments with clear timelines and targets,
• Withdraw Canada’s interpretative declaration and reservation to Article 12, which limits equal recognition before the law for persons with disabilities and undermines their right to exercise legal capacity,
• Establish a national inclusive education action plan to transition from segregated education to quality, inclusive education across all provinces and territories,
• Develop a strategy with specific timelines to transition from segregated employment settings such as sheltered workshops to open, inclusive, and accessible employment for persons with disabilities,
• Invest significantly in comprehensive measures to address systemic failures in social determinants of health and well-being, including poverty alleviation, accessible housing, prevention of homelessness, and community-based supports.

“These recommendations align with what people with intellectual disabilities and their families have been saying for years,” says President of Inclusion Canada, Moira Wilson, “Canada has an opportunity to lead in disability rights, but only if provincial and territorial governments and the federal government take these findings seriously and move swiftly to implement meaningful reforms.”

Inclusion Canada calls on all levels of government to implement the CRPD committee’s key recommendations. We are ready to support these efforts and will continue to advocate for a Canada where everyone belongs.

-30-

For Media Inquiries, please contact:
Marc Muschler, Senior Communications Officer
Inclusion Canada
Email: mmuschler@inclusioncanada.ca
Direct: 416-661-9611 ext. 232

About Inclusion Canada

Inclusion Canada is the national federation of 13 provincial/territorial member organizations and over 300 local associations working to advance the full inclusion and human rights of people with intellectual disabilities and their families. Inclusion Canada drives social change by strengthening families, defending rights, and transforming communities into places where everyone belongs.

Persons with disabilities have sought access to medical assistance in dying due to unmet needs: the Canadian “false choice”

This article was published by Vivre Dans La Dignité on March 12, 2025.

Montreal, March 12, 2025 – On March 10 and 11 in Geneva (Switzerland), the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities examined the report submitted by Canada under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

As this review is flying under the media radar due to current events, the Living with Dignity citizen network would like to highlight some of the interventions of the United Nations experts addressing medical assistance in dying as well as recommendations from Canadian groups participating in the study.

"A False Choice"

The official meeting summary of the United Nations Information Service includes a quote from Ms. Rosemary Kayess, Vice-Chairperson, UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Australia) and Leader of the Taskforce for Canada: «it was concerning that persons with disabilities sought access to medical assistance in dying due to unmet needs, which was a systemic failure of the State party.  The disproportionate impact of these failures, which included poverty, and a lack of access to employment and services, underpinned the so-called choice for seeking medical assistance in dying as an alternative. How was this not State-sanctioned euthanasia?  If choice was the trigger, why was there not also a focus on addressing the support that person needed, which would take them away from social isolation where they perceived dying as the only option they had? ». She also added « For me, it is still a false choice.»

Ms. Kayess went so far as to add during the discussions “Do you not see this as a step back into state-sanctioned eugenics programmes”?

As is too often the case during these reviews, the answers of the Canadian delegation were often prepared in advance and did not appear to satisfy the experts. « The dialogue would have been more fruitful if there was less reliance on prepared statements which frequently did not answer the Committee’s questions. » according to Mr. Markus Schefer, committee expert and taskforce member, who, at the start of the second day, had to remind the delegation to avoid “canned answers”.

Recommendations from Canadian groups

Living in Dignity supports these recommendations made by more than 50 organizations (several of which were in Geneva) in the Civil Society Parallel Report for Canada:

• Repeal Track Two MAiD;
• Repeal the legal provisions which will make Track Two MAiD available to people with a mental illness as their sole underlying medical condition in March 2027.

As Inclusion Canada pointed out in a press release issued on Monday, several organizations defending the rights of persons with disabilities, as well as individuals, have challenged Canada’s expanded MAiD laws by launching a legal Charter challenge in the Ontario Superior Court.

Living with Dignity would also like to highlight this recommendation from the Canadian Human Rights Commission:

“Recommendation #3: That before taking further action on its expansion, Canada conduct a critical and thorough examination of what has happened since the coming into force of MAiD legislation, including by collecting the evidence and testimony necessary so that there is a clear understanding of who is accessing MAiD and why, and by ensuring that the experiences and concerns of those who are most marginalized are listened to, valued and addressed.”

The recommendations of several other groups deserve your attention, including those of the Assembly of First Nations, the Environmental Health Associations of Canada and Québec and the Feminist Alliance for International Action.

All these recommendations are available in the reports posted on this page, as are those of the Canadian delegation, which we invite you to read and analyze. The Parallel Report of Civil Society for Canada can be found under the name of one of the signatories, ARCH Disability Law Centre.

Next step? The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will publish its concluding observations on March 21 (end of its current session).

To review all of the Committee’s exchanges with the Canadian delegation this week (two three-hour sessions):

• March 10, https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1n/k1n09gnpy1 (quotes from Ms. Kayess, Vice-Chairperson of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, are at 02:19:04 and 02:25:04);
• March 11, https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1j/k1jvnn43r1.

Media contact:

Jasmin Lemieux-Lefebvre
Coordinator
Living with Dignity citizen network
www.vivredignite.org/en
info@vivredignite.org
438-931-1233

Disability groups legally challenge Canada's euthanasia law.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Press Conference

On September 26, 2024 a coalition of disability rights organizations and two personally affected individuals filed a Charter challenge with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The Court Challenge opposes Track 2 of Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) law, which provides euthanasia to people with a disability who are not dying, or whose death is not “reasonably foreseeable.” 

The coalition includes national disability organizations Inclusion Canada, the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD), Indigenous Disability Canada (IDC/BCANDS), and DAWN Canada, as well as two individuals who have been harmed by Track 2 MAiD. 

Krista Carr, Executive Vice-President of Inclusion Canada said.

"People are dying. We are witnessing an alarming trend where people with disabilities are seeking assisted suicide due to social deprivation, poverty, and lack of essential supports,"

"This law also sends a devastating message that life with a disability is a fate worse than death, undermining decades of work toward equity and inclusion. It’s time to put an end to helping people with disabilities commit suicide and start supporting them to live."

Heather Walkus, National Chairperson of the CCD said:

"This challenge is about protecting the equality and human rights of all people with disabilities in Canada,"

"Instead of providing the support and resources we need to live, our government is offering death. It's unacceptable, and we won't stand for it."

Neil Belanger, CEO of IDC/BCANDS said:

“Indigenous Peoples and communities across Canada face higher rates of disability, poverty, and isolation while continuing to battle significant barriers when attempting to access disability and health services and supports necessary for their well-being,” 

 “Understanding this, this law is not just discriminatory; it reinforces the ongoing marginalization of Indigenous Peoples with disabilities."

Bonnie Brayton, CEO of DAWN Canada said:

“Women and gender-diverse people with disabilities experience the highest rates of gender-based violence and poverty and we do not have access to health care, as the heartbreaking stories of the two individual plaintiffs in this case demonstrate. We want access to housing, to health care and to be free of violence and instead, we are accessing MAID at the highest rates. This law is a betrayal of our most fundamental rights”

 The organizations assert that Track 2 MAiD has resulted in premature deaths and an increase in discrimination and stigma towards people with disabilities across the country. While they are not challenging MAiD Track 1 cases, they recognize that these cases pose significant problems for people with disabilities. Track 2 MAiD has had a direct negative impact on the lives of people with disabilities.

The coalition is petitioning the court to strike down Track 2 approvals in Canada's MAiD law, arguing that providing assisted death solely on the basis of disability is unconstitutional.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition will seek to intervene in this case.

EPC is also seeking to intervene in the Dying With Dignity case designed to force the federal government to permit euthanasia for mental illness alone and the other Dying With Dignity case that intends to force all hospitals, including religiously affiliated hospitals, to provide euthanasia.