Review of Medical Assistance in Dying by special joint parliamentary committee
- Apr 25, 2022
- 2 min read
UPDATE NOVEMBER 2023 - See new EFC government submission on MAID for mental illness, below
A special joint committee of MPs and senators is recommending making minors eligible for medically hastened death. Their February 2023 report also recommends allowing advance requests, thus opening medical assistance in dying (MAiD) to people no longer able to consent. The committee’s report recommends but doesn't require the government to make these changes to the law.
A group of doctors and experts have published a letter of dissent about the MAID report. Read our quick summary (March 7, 2023).
This parliamentary report was the result of a bill that passed in March 2021 (Bill C-7) calling for a comprehensive review of the medical assistance in dying (MAID) provisions and the related issues of mature minors, advance requests, mental illness, the state of palliative care in Canada and the protection of Canadians with disabilities. The review was conducted by a special joint committee of MPs and senators.
The EFC opposes euthanasia and assisted suicide. The EFC also opposes the planned expansion of MAiD in cases of medical illness alone set for March 2024 (delayed from original date of March 2023 to give doctors more time to prepare).
Related resources
EFC brief on MAID for mental illness, sent to the Special Joint Parliamentary Commitee (Nov. 16, 2023, aussi disponible en français)
The vote on Bill C-314 to reverse the law on MAiD for mental illness was very close. See TheEFC.ca/C314.
Challenging hastened death for minors (Canada Watch, Apr/May 2023)
Action Kit to Halt Expansion of MAID to Include Mental Illness Alone (March 2023)
Blogs on review of MAID
Part 3: MAiD must not be Canada’s response to poverty or a lack of supports (June 20, 2022)
Part 2: Assisted death for children as young as 12? (June 14, 2022)
Part 1: What's happening (June 6, 2022)
EFC submission to the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (4-page PDF, May 9, 2022)
Recent Faith Today articles
How MAiD is transforming Canadian end-of-life care (Jul/Aug 2022 issue)
Navigating Medical Assistance in Dying: How the Church is encountering voluntary euthanasia (May/Jun 2022 issue)
