Eligibility for MAiD set to expand in new year for those with mental illness

Eligibility for Canada’s assisted dying program is set to expand for those with mental illness in the new year.

The sunset clause delaying the measures will expire in March.

Parliament updated the requirements for MAiD in 2021, opening up the assisted suicide program to those seeking it solely for mental disorders.

Some say that not allowing the measures to go through could amount to discrimination.

“A total exclusion … for all persons suffering from mental illness as a sole underlying condition is likely to be constitutionally challenged as violating the equality, security and liberty guarantees in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” said Toronto lawyer Shelley Birenbaum.

Meanwhile, an open letter written earlier this year from a host of law professors from across the country called the suggestion “reckless.”

READ MORE: Experts call on government to delay in MAID for those with mental illness

“In fact, there is for that reason, on the contrary, a strong argument to be made that the Charter requires adequate and equal protection against premature death of all persons with disabilities,” the letter read.

Another possible outcome for the expansion is another postponement, metaphorically kicking the can down the road.

MAiD was introduced to the country back in 2016.

During its onset, it afforded Canadians with a foreseeable natural death in their future a choice in their own morality.

In 2019, Quebec’s Superior Court ruled that foreseeable natural death being a requirement for eligibility was unconstitutional.