This message was received from Tamara Jansen (MP) thanking people who advocated in support of Bill C-218. Your advocacy made a difference.
If
you saw last week’s headlines, you may have thought Canadians struggling with
mental illness were finally protected from MAiD.
I wish I could tell you that protection was
now law.
On
the morning of the vote on Bill C-218, the Liberals announced that they would
introduce their own legislation to stop MAiD for people whose only underlying
medical condition is a mental illness. But
their announcement came with a deeply troubling condition: they intend to
expand MAiD at the same time.
Canada
already has one of the most permissive assisted-dying systems in the world.
Serious concerns about safeguards remain, while Canadians struggle to access
mental health treatment, disability supports and timely medical care.
Why is the government planning another
expansion when so many people cannot get the care they need?
Bill C-218 offered Parliament a focused way
to protect Canadians struggling with mental illness. Instead of sending it to committee
for study, the Liberals voted it down in favour of a promised bill Parliament
has not yet seen.
The March 17, 2027 deadline remains. Unless new legislation passes before
then, MAiD will become legal for people whose only underlying medical condition
is a mental illness.
By
tying that urgently needed protection to a further expansion of MAiD, the
Liberals are forcing Parliament to accept another expansion with little time
for scrutiny and debate, or risk leaving vulnerable Canadians unprotected.
I am
deeply disappointed that C-218 was defeated. It was exactly the sort of bill
that could have saved lives.
But I want you to know that your efforts
mattered. Your letters, calls, prayers and conversations helped put pressure on
the government to commit to stopping that expansion.
Now
we must hold them to that commitment. Canadians should not have to accept a
further expansion of MAiD to secure protection for people struggling with
mental illness.
I will keep pressing for that protection to
become law before the deadline to ensure Canadians are offered treatment,
support and the opportunity to recover.
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is thankful to Tamara Jansen (MP) for sponsoring Bill C-218 and carrying this clear and important bill through parliament. Jansen's leadership was impressive.
There were several other Members of Parliament who committed significant time and political capital to support Bill C-218, in particular Andrew Lawton (MP).
Link to an excellent speech by Andrew Lawton (Speech)
Thank you also to the NDP caucus, Elizabeth May (Green Party) and Liberal members - Kent Macdonald and Marilyn Gladu who also supported Bill C-218.
The vote on Bill C-218 did not go as we had hoped but the campaign in support of Bill C-218 was excellent and resulted in the government announcing that they will introduce a government bill to prevent euthanasia for mental illness as a sole condition. We are not celebrating as we have not seen the language of the government bill, which may not have been written yet.
The government also announced that they will expand Canada's law to permit euthanasia by advanced request. This means that Canadians who declare, while competent, that they want to die by euthanasia, they can be killed at a later date, if they become incompetent.
The government announced that the bill will both prevent euthanasia for mental illness as a sole criteria and they will expand the law to allow euthanasia by advanced request. This is disgusting. The government will force Members of Parliament to vote on a bill that does both good and evil at the same time.
Since we have not seen the language of the bill we will not make a recommendation as to how Members of Parliament should vote on the bill.
We are nervous since euthanasia for mental illness, as a sole criteria is scheduled to begin March 17, 2027. The government does not have a lot of time.
Alex Schadenberg Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Bill C-218, the bill to prevent euthanasia for mental illness as a sole criteria was debated on December 5, 2025 and September 23, 2026 and will go to a vote on October 7.
We need at least 30 Liberal MP's to support Bill C-218.
The easiest way to support Bill C-218 is to call your Member of Parliament before October 7 and tell your MP to support Bill C-218. The phone number is part of the MP contact information. (Member of Parliament List).
In March 2021, the Canada's parliament expanded the euthanasia law by passing Bill C-7. One of the expansions in the lawpermitted euthanasia for a mental illness alone. but, at that time, the government declared a two-year moratorium to provide time to prepare for the change.
The government delayed the implementation of euthanasia for mental illness, as a sole criteria, three times with implementation now approved for March 17, 2027.
Tamara Jansen(MP - Cloverdale - Langley City) introduced private membersBill C-218to prevent euthanasia (MAiD) for mental illness as the sole criteria.
Bill C-218 excludes mental illness from being defined as a "grievous and irremediable medical condition" for the purposes of MAiD. Bill C-218, if passed will prevent MAID for mental illness as a sole criteria.
The vote on Bill C-218 is scheduled for Wednesday, October 7, 2026.
There are several ways that you can help Bill C-218 be passed:
Sign the petition in support of Bill C-218 (Link).
It is easiest to call your Member of Parliament. The phone number is part of the MP contact information. (Member of Parliament List).
Contact your Member of Parliament (MP) by email and share your support for Bill C-218. Contact your Member of Parliament at: (Member of Parliament List).
Refer to the information in the Bill C-218 handout for Members of Parliament (Link).
Send your personal stories about living with mental illness to info@epcc.ca.
Remember. The majority of Canadians do not support MAiD for mental illness.
Mario Canseco, the President of Research Co, was published by Business Intelligence for BC with polling indicating that the majority of Canadians do not support (MAiD) euthanasia for mental illness. Conseco reported that:
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 that 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 the Member of Parliament.
Alex Schadenberg Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Bill C-218, the bill that would prevent euthanasia for mental illness as a sole criteria, had its first hour of debate on December 5, 2025 and its second hour of debate on September 23, 2026 and will go to a vote on Wednesday October 7.
a few psychiatrists use anecdotal, unsubstantiated claims to assert that every mental illness is treatable or curable, but they also say that psychiatry is wrong about both prognoses and diagnoses. Those psychiatrists cannot explain why we should rely on anecdotal, unsubstantiated accounts involving patients whom they say would have met the MAID eligibility criteria and safeguards set out in the expert panel report when those psychiatrists have no experience with MAID, either as assessors or providers, and when they are are effectively opposed to track 2 or MAID in general.
Back in 2021, the then Liberal justice minister David Lametti, at the eleventh hour, accepted a radical Senate amendment, which he initially opposed, that set the train in motion for the expansion of MAID for mental illness, effective March 2023. There was no meaningful study, no meaningful consultation and no meaningful debate. The Liberals simply rammed it through. This was on a question of life and death concerning among the most vulnerable persons in Canadian society. It could not be more reckless than that.
The speech in parliament by Tamara Jansen Tamara Jansen (Cloverdale—Langley City) on September 23, 2026 at 18:32 pm in support of Bill C-218, a bill that would prevent (MAiD) euthanasia for mental illness as a sole criteria. Jansen sponsored Bill C-218.
I want to begin by remembering young Kiano Vafaeian who lost his life to MAiD
Kiano was only 26 years old.
He had lived with Type 1 diabetes since he was four. After a serious car accident as a teenager, he also struggled with his mental health, and later he lost vision in one eye.
In 2022, when he was just 23 years old, Kiano sought MAiD in Ontario. His mother, Margaret, fought desperately to keep her son alive.
And she succeeded.
For a time.
But Kiano had become obsessed with getting MAiD. He continued to request it from Ontario health until they told him straight out he would never qualify in Ontario but shockingly suggested other jurisdictions he could contact in his quest to end his life. Sadly, he found a willing doctor in British Columbia, where he received MAiD on December 30, 2025 from the now infamous Dr Elen Wiebe.
Tamara Jansen (CPC)
He was 26.
And when I heard Kiano's story, I could not stop thinking about my own little brother.
In 2023 he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. He knew he was dying but wanted to live. But the medical staff at Abbotsford hospital seemed to want to end his life.
While laying on a bed in the hallway on the oncology ward he was asked, not once, not twice, not three, four, or five times but six separate times if he wanted MAiD!
They were relentless.
They pressed him saying that they didn’t think they would be able to control his pain, scaring him out of his wits, but he still had the will to live.
So that final time he gave them a big Hell No!
I’m very proud of my little brother for standing up for his life…..for having the courage and commitment to make a statement that his life was still worth living, even if it was only for another 8 or 10 months.
He had time to mend fences, make friends with the staff at Hospice, say goodbye to his family.
This is why bill C 218 is necessary.
Because not everyone will be able to fight the way my brother fought. Not everyone will have the strength to say no six times.
And when someone is sick, frightened, depressed or unable to see any hope for tomorrow, surely the responsibility of our medical system is not to reinforce their despair, but to protect them while they are vulnerable and help them find their way back to hope.
That is particularly true when we are talking about mental illness.
For years, Conservatives have warned that expanding MAiD to people suffering solely from mental illness crosses a line we should not cross.
We were told the safeguards would be enough. We were told the system could be made ready.
Yet the implementation has been delayed again and again, while the fundamental question remains unanswered: how can we declare that a person's mental illness is irremediable when we cannot reliably know that they will never recover?
But we do know one thing with absolute certainty: once that life is ended, there is no tomorrow.
When we first debated this bill, members told us to wait for the Special Joint Committee to do its work.
Well, it has.
The committee heard the evidence and recommended that people whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness be indefinitely excluded from MAiD eligibility.
Parliament asked for that review. We now have its answer.
And if the concern with Bill C-218 is the wording and the use of the term “mental disorder” instead of “mental illness”, then let us fix the wording at committee.
We are prepared to work with the government at committee to make the technical changes.
A bill should not be defeated at second reading over technical wording when there is agreement on the principle.
The scheduled expansion is coming in March. So let us work together and send this bill to committee.
The measure of a compassionate society is not how efficiently it helps people die. It is whether, in the moment when someone can no longer see the value of their own life, the rest of us are prepared to see it for them.
Our answer to suffering should be care. Our answer to despair should be hope. And when someone believes there is no possibility of recovery, Canada should never be the one to agree with them.
That is why I am asking my colleagues to vote for Bill C-218.
Give Canadians the time, the care and the hope they need.
The speech in parliament by Michael Cooper (St. Albert—Sturgeon River) on September 23, 2026 starting at 5:53 pm in support of Bill C-218, a bill that would prevent (MAiD) euthanasia for mental illness as a sole criteria.
Michael Cooper
I rise in strong support of Bill C-218, the right to recover act, introduced by my friend, the member for . The title of the bill fully reflects the substance of the bill. It is the right to recover: to give persons struggling with mental health challenges hope and help, instead of state-sanctioned, state-administered death, by putting an indefinite pause on the Liberal government's ill-thought-out expansion of MAID where mental illness is the sole underlying condition.
I commend the member for Cloverdale—Langley City for bringing forward the bill, because it is absolutely needed. We need legislation to be passed by Parliament. Otherwise, this ill-thought-out expansion will take effect in March 2027.
I have to say that it should never have been this way. It should never have come to this. The planned expansion is a master class in how not to do policy and how not to legislate.
Back in 2021, the then Liberal justice minister David Lametti, at the eleventh hour, accepted a radical Senate amendment, which he initially opposed, that set the train in motion for the expansion of MAID for mental illness, effective March 2023. There was no meaningful study, no meaningful consultation and no meaningful debate. The Liberals simply rammed it through. This was on a question of life and death concerning among the most vulnerable persons in Canadian society. It could not be more reckless than that.
Here we are, more than five years later, and the planned expansion has been nothing short of a mess. It has been completely shambolic, including the fact that the government has been all but forced to introduce two emergency bills to delay implementation because it did not do its homework at the outset.
Had the Liberals done their homework, they would have heard loud and clear what experts, including leading psychiatrists, have been saying, and that is that MAID for mental illness is a really bad idea, that it cannot be implemented safely for a multitude of reasons, not least of which include two unresolved clinical issues. The first of those issues is that it is difficult, if not impossible, to predict irremediability. In other words, it is difficult, if not impossible, to predict whether someone suffering from a mental illness will get better. Indeed, many mental illnesses are remediable, and they are very difficult to predict in terms of a prognosis.
As Dr. Karin Neufeld, who is one of Canada's most renowned psychiatrists and is none other than the chair of the Association of Chairs of Psychiatry in Canada, put it in her brief to the Special Joint Committee on MAID, which is studying this very issue, “Psychiatric disorders lack reliable biomarkers, follow non-linear trajectories, and frequently improve after years of severe impairment.” Accordingly, Dr. Neufeld concluded that psychiatrists are poor predictors of long-term outcomes. Simply put, modern psychiatry lacks the tools to predict irremediability in individual cases of mental illness. It is so uncertain in terms of predicting irremediability, that studies show that psychiatrists get it right less than 50% of the time.
As Dr. Sonu Gaind, who is the past chair of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, told the special joint committee, one would be better off flipping a coin to predict irremediability. This is on a matter, again, involving life and death. What that means is that if this expansion were to go forward in March 2027, or at all, tens of thousands of Canadians who could get better, recover and lead productive lives will have their lives prematurely ended.
This prospect is untenable, and it is unconscionable. The uncertainty around predicting irremediability not only renders MAID for mental illness a completely reckless and dangerous policy, but also makes it impossible to administer in compliance with the law. This is because a prerequisite to qualifying for MAID is that an individual must have a grievous and irremediable condition. Given that it is difficult, if not impossible, to accurately predict irremediability in cases of mental illness, the legal basis for MAID cannot be satisfied, full stop. Therefore, we have not only a clinical issue, but also a major legal impediment to this expansion going forward.
The second major clinical issue identified is that it is difficult to distinguish, in cases of mental illness, a rational request for aid versus one motivated by suicidal ideation. This is because, in many cases, suicidal ideation, suicidal thoughts, are a symptom of the illness, and that is underscored by the fact that, in more than 90% of suicide deaths in Canada, mental illness is a factor. What that means is, if this were to go forward, long-standing suicide prevention efforts would be undermined. The mental health law would be upended, because given that suicidal ideation is often a symptom of mental illness, it begs the very practical question of which requests for MAID would merit intervention and suicide prevention versus the granting of MAID.
Given these unresolved clinical issues and other issues, and the clear opposition from the vast majority of psychiatrists, including the 17 chairs of psychiatry representing all 17 medical schools in Canada, who penned a letter to the Minister of Justice saying to put an indefinite pause on this, the Liberals twice, as I alluded to, introduced emergency legislation to kick the can down the road. They kicked the can down the road yet again with a new date of implementation, that being March 2027. Guess what. Nothing has changed. The same clinical issues remain unresolved, and there is no evidence that they will be or can be resolved in the foreseeable future, if ever.
This is why the special joint committee on MAID, which wrapped up its work in June, of which I was a member, of which the member for Cloverdale—Langley City was a member, recommended that the government stop kicking the can down the road and simply put an indefinite pause on this ill-thought-out expansion. I would note that the recommendation was a unanimous recommendation from Conservative and Liberal MPs on the committee.
The government likes to claim it makes decisions based upon evidence, that it make decisions based upon the facts. Well, if that is so, then to follow the evidence, there is only one, objectively speaking, reasonable course of action for the government to take, which is to admit it got it wrong in 2021 and to reverse course by putting an indefinite pause on this expansion. Bill C-218, the right to recover act, provides a clear path forward to do just that.
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.
Alex Schadenberg Executive Director,Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Sharon Kirkey reported in the National Post on June 15, 2026 that the Special Parliamentary Euthanasia Committee will recommend that the Canadian government not expand euthanasia for mental illness alone.
When Canada passed Bill C-7 in March 17, 2021, one of its provisions was the expansion of euthanasia for the sole criteria of mental illness. The federal government has delayed euthanasia for mental illness alone several times.
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. The new parliamentary report that will be released on June 17, 2026. It will recommend that euthanasia for mental illness alone be indefinitely paused.
Bill C-7 expanded euthanasia for people who do not have a terminally condition, but had a grievous and irremediable medical condition and the law was expanded to permit euthanasia for an incompetent person, as long as that person had been previously approved for euthanasia.
In order to expand euthanasia to people who do not have a terminal condition a two track law was created. Track 1 is for people with a terminal condition who are approved with a same day death. Track 2 is for people who do not have a terminal condition but who could be approved with a 90-day reflection period. Track 2 euthanasia is essentially designed for people with disabilities and has caused the deaths of people who are living in poverty, are homeless, or have untreated medical conditions.
Kirkey reported:
A special parliamentary committee is expected to recommend that the federal government halt the expansion of MAID to those whose sole condition is a mental disorder, the latest development in a drawn-out and controversial chapter in the country’s assisted-death regime.
The joint committee of senators and MPs struck to revisit Canada’s preparedness for medical assistance in dying for those with mental illness alone is expected to recommend an “indefinite pause” on the expansion, two sources told National Post. They spoke on the condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to speak on the committee’s behalf.
Kirkey also stated that a group of Senators plan to write a dissenting report.
The Special Committee on Euthanasia heard testimony from 44 witnesses, including a presentation by the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, and they received 32 briefs. Kirkey reported:
Sixteen current and former chairs of psychiatry departments across Canada, and more than 90 disability and mental health organizations, appealed to the joint committee to halt extending MAID to include mental disorders as the sole underlying medical condition.
There have been many controversial euthanasia cases lately including the euthanasia death of Kiano Vafaeian (26) on December 30, 2025 who had Type 1 diabetes. Kiano, who lived in Ontario, flew to Vancouver to be killed by Ellen Wiebe in a funeral home. Other recent controversial euthanasia deaths include James MacLean, of London Ontario, who approved a death at a Tim Horton's coffee shop. MacLean was also involved in a euthanasia death where he declared the man dead who wasn't dead, causing incredible distress for the family. (In this death MacLean used left-over euthanasia poison from previous euthanasia deaths.) In another case, a man cried out help me while being killed by euthanasia.
Tamara Jansen (MP) introduced Private Members Bill C-218, last year. If passed, Bill C-218 would prevent euthanasia for mental illness as the sole criteria. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition urges you to support Bill C-218.
Prime Minister Mark Carney stated that he would follow the recommendations of the committee. It is unknown whether the Liberal government will introduce their own legislation or pass Bill C-218.
Alex Schadenberg Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) is seeking to intervene in the "emergency relief" court case that was launched by Dying with Dignity, Canada's leading pro-euthanasia lobby group, to have an Ontario court approve death by medical homicide for Claire Brosseau who is living with mental illness alone.
Ms. Brosseau, Dr. Patricia Smith, and Dying With Dignity Canada, filed a court challenge with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice arguing that the exclusion of individuals living with grievous and irremediable mental illness from MAID eligibility is discriminatory. It violates the rights to equality and liberty and security of the person protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
EPC legal counsel, Hugh Scher, submitted the court intervention application outlining our litigation experience that began in 2004 and includes interventions at every level in Carter, the case that legalized medical homicide in Canada. Scher stated:
EPC will tailor its intervention, if granted, so as to not duplicate submissions made by other parties to the litigation and will focus on the scope of its intervention on the public policy implications including people with mental health disabilities on the application of an exemption to the MAiD provisions of the Criminal Code that would allow for the application of MAiD to a person with a mental illness only.
When Canada passed Bill C-7 in March 2021, that expansion of the medical homicide law included extending killing to people with only a mental illness. At that time parliament declared a two-year moratorium on euthanasia for mental illness alone to provide time for parliament to establish guidelines. Parliament later extended the moratorium on euthanasia for mental illness alone until March 17, 2027.
Recently parliament reconvened the AMAD committee (Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying) to examine whether or not Canada was "ready" to permit medical homicide for mental illness alone. The committee will submit a report later this year.
At the same time, Tamara Jansen (MP - Cloverdale - Langley City) introduced private members Bill C-218 in the House of Commons to prevent euthanasia 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.
Dying With Dignity, Ms. Brosseau, and Dr. Patricia Smith launched the current emergency relief court case in an attempt to get an Ontario court to legislate from the bench by giving Ms. Brosseau an exemption to be killed, even though parliament has a moratorium on euthanasia for mental illness alone.
We will not know immediately whether or not our intervention application is accepted but we will need your financial support.
Please donate to the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition court intervention (online donation) (paypal donation) donate by e-transfer to info@epcc.ca or call our office at: 1-877-439-3348.
Alex Schadenberg Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
In March 2021, the Canadian government expanded the euthanasia law by passing Bill C-7. One of the expansions in the lawpermitted euthanasia for a mental illness alone.
The government originally approved a
two-year moratorium on euthanasia for mental illness alone to prepare for the change.
The
government delayed the implementation and currently euthanasia for mental illness alone willbegin on March 17, 2027.
Tamara Jansen(MP - Cloverdale - Langley City) introduced private membersBill C-218in parliament to prevent euthanasia (MAiD) for mental illness alone.
Bill C-218, if passed will prevent MAID for mental illness alone.
On April 17, 2026 the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition received the following message urging passage of Bill C-218 based on personal experience. The supporter stated:
Inability to Know Which Suicides to Prevent and Which to Provide is a good subject.
I live with the illness schizophrenia and at risk of developing dementia and I fear this future decision.
I told family and friends that I am against euthanasia. My only hope is that in the future, not only for myself but for others, is that euthaanasia does not become legal for mentally people.
How do you treat an illness with MAID when suicidal feelings are a symptom of the illness, where do we differentiate the difference?
There are several effective ways you can 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 efffective 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.
To
pass, Bill C-218 will need Members 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
that 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 the Member of Parliament.
This is the speech by Tamara Jansen on Monday April 13 on parliament hill at the EPC rally to almost 100 participants who attended in the pouring rain.My friends,
Tamara Jansen speaking at EPC rally.
You know, when I first got involved in politics, it wasn’t because I had
some grand plan to stand on Parliament Hill one day and speak about a bill like
this.
It started much more simply. I got to know my local MP Mark Warawa and loved what
he stood for.I started helping him
organize town halls, meet with people in the community, and make
connections.He was doing all this because
he was passionate about the vulnerable citizens living among us.
And one of the things Mark cared deeply about was palliative care. He
believed, in a very real and practical way, that when people are suffering, our
job is to come alongside them—to care for them, to support them, to remind them
that they are not alone.
Now, Mark also served on the original committee studying what would become
MAiD, and I remember him saying—more than once—that we needed to be very
careful because once you open a door like that, you don’t always get to decide
how far it swings.
At the time, some people thought that was a bit of a stretch.
But I don’t think anyone would say that today.
Because here we are, just a few years later, and what began as something
quite limited has been expanded, piece by piece, to the point where we are now planning
to offer MAiD to those whose only condition is mental illness—people who are
not at the end of life.
And somewhere along the way, I found myself thinking: this isn’t what people
believed they were agreeing to.
That’s why I brought forward Bill C-218, building on the work of my colleague
Ed Fast—because at some
point, when you can see where a road is leading, you have to be willing to stop
and say, “Let’s take another look at this before we go any further.”
Now, when you take the time to really look at what is being proposed here,
and you listen carefully to the people who are working most closely with those
who are suffering, you begin to understand that this issue is far more complex
than it is often presented by organizations like Dying With Dignity. We have
heard from psychiatrists across this country—highly trained, deeply experienced
professionals—who are telling us, quite plainly, that when it comes to mental
illness, there is no reliable way to determine that a condition is truly irremediable.
That word matters, because it is the very foundation upon which MAiD rests.
It assumes that we can identify, with confidence, when suffering cannot be
alleviated. But in the case of mental illness, the evidence simply does not
support that level of certainty, and the doctors themselves are telling us so.
And if we pause for a moment and reflect on that, it raises a very serious
concern. Because what we are being asked to accept is not a clear medical
conclusion, but a judgment—one that carries permanent consequences. Mental
illness does not follow a straight line. It shifts, it responds, it improves,
sometimes in ways that surprise even those who have spent years studying it.
People who once believed they could not go on have, with time and care, found
their footing again. And yet, under this expansion, we are being asked to make
life-ending decisions with no clear certainty that things couldn’t improve with
time and care.
But there is another piece of this that Canadians often don’t realize. Under
the current framework, there is no requirement that a person must have received
every reasonable treatment—or even meaningful treatment at all—before being
approved for MAiD. Just think about that for a moment. We are prepared to offer
a permanent solution, even in situations where the path to care has not been
fully pursued, or where access to that care may have been limited in the first
place.
And when you place that reality alongside the circumstances many people are
living in, it becomes much more serious. Because vulnerability is not just
about a diagnosis—it is about the whole situation a person finds themselves in.
It is about someone who feels isolated, someone who feels like a burden on
their family, someone who looks around and quietly begins to wonder whether
others might be better off without them. Those are not rare thoughts in moments
of deep struggle—they are, in fact, painfully common.
So we have to ask ourselves what happens when a person in that state is
presented with MAiD as an option. Are they making a free and fully unburdened
choice, or are they responding to a set of pressures—emotional, social, even
financial—that are shaping that decision in ways we cannot measure?
At the same time, experts who have spoken to us have raised another concern,
one that is difficult to ignore. They are seeing individuals who are already
struggling with suicidal thoughts becoming aware that there is now a system
that can provide the outcome they want.
And in some cases, when one door closes, another can be found—because what
has emerged is a form of doctor shopping, where individuals seek out assessors
who are willing to say yes, even when others have urged caution or continued
care. Some experts have described this as creating a kind of pull, where MAiD
begins to appear not as a last resort after every avenue has been exhausted,
but as an available alternative.
We have already seen the consequences of that. Kiano’s story is one that
many of you here know well. He was a young man
who was struggling, who needed support, who needed time, and whose mother
fought for him—fought the system for him—because she believed, as any parent
would, that her son’s life was worth fighting for. And yet, despite those
efforts, he was eventually able to find a pathway that led to his death. How
many more Kiano’s are out there that we have not heard about?
And that is where this becomes more than policy. Because when a system
allows that kind of outcome, it raises a very serious question about whether we
are truly protecting the vulnerable, or whether we are making it easier for
them to give up at the very moment they most need someone to stand in the gap
for them.
And so I want to close by simply saying thank you.
Thank you to every one of you who has taken the time to stand here today, and
to so many others across this country who may not be on this hill, but who have
picked up the phone, written an email, or had a conversation with their Member
of Parliament because they know this matters.
These things are not always easy to do. They take time, they take courage,
and they come from a place of deep concern—not just for ourselves, but for
people we may never meet.
And that, more than anything, is what this bill represents.
It represents a decision, as a country, to stand with those who are struggling…
especially when they cannot stand on their own. It represents a belief that
vulnerability should never become a pathway to being overlooked, or worse, to
being offered something final when what is still needed is care, time, and
hope.
And I want you to know that your voices are being heard.
In Parliament, those calls, those letters, those conversations—they matter.
They shape decisions, they influence outcomes. They remind every Member of
Parliament that behind every vote are real people, real families, and real
lives.
So please, keep going.
Keep speaking.
Keep standing for those who need someone to stand for them.
Together we will reaffirm the kind of country we want to be.One that truly cares for those most
vulnerable in communities across Canada.
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