We need mental health supports, not more MAiD
By Lethbridge Herald on September 24, 2025.
David Zekved
Troy Media
If the law Parliament plans to roll out in 2027 had been on the books 15 years ago, Member of Parliament Andrew Lawton says he’d probably be dead. He’s not exaggerating. He’s referring to Canada’s scheduled expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAiD) to include people suffering only from mental illness.
Lawton, who survived a suicide attempt during a period of deep depression, knows what’s at stake. So do others who’ve shared similar stories. What they needed back then wasn’t a government-approved exit plan. They needed care, time, and something MAiD quietly discards: the possibility of recovery.
MAiD, medical assistance in dying, was legalized in Canada in 2016 for people with grievous and irremediable physical conditions. The 2027 expansion would, for the first time, allow people to request MAiD solely on the basis of a mental illness, even if they have no physical illness or terminal condition.
With the expansion now delayed to March 2027, Parliament will once again have to decide whether it wants to cross this particular moral threshold. Although the legislation was passed in 2021, it has never come into force. First pushed back to 2024, then to 2027, it remains stalled, not because of foot-dragging, but due to intense medical, ethical and public concern.
Parliament should scrap the expansion altogether.
A 2023 repeal attempt came surprisingly close—just 17 votes short, at 167 to 150. That’s despite unanimous support from Conservative, NDP and Green MPs. You read that right: all three parties, often at each other’s throats, agreed that death should not be an option handed out for depression.
Their concern wasn’t just ethical, it was practical. The core issues remain unresolved. There’s no consensus on whether mental illness is ever truly irremediable—whether it can be cured, improved or even reliably assessed as hopeless. Ask 10 psychiatrists and you’ll get 12 opinions. Recovery isn’t rare. But authorizing MAiD sends the opposite message: that some people’s pain is permanent, and the only answer is to make it stop—permanently.
Meanwhile, access to real mental health care is sorely lacking. A 2023 Angus Reid Institute poll found 40 per cent of Canadians who needed treatment faced barriers getting it. Half of Canadians said they outright oppose the expansion. Another 21 per cent weren’t sure—perhaps assuming Canada wouldn’t actually go through with something so dystopian.
But 82 per cent agreed on one thing: don’t even think about expanding MAiD before fixing the mental health system.
That disconnect between what people need and what they’re being offered leads to a more profound contradiction. Canada spends millions promoting suicide prevention. There are hotlines, campaigns and mental health initiatives. Offering MAiD to people in crisis sends a radically different message: suicide prevention ends where bureaucracy begins.
Even Quebec, normally Canada’s most enthusiastic adopter of progressive policy experiments, has drawn the line. The province has said mental disorders don’t qualify for MAiD, period. Most provincial premiers and health ministers have called for an indefinite delay.
Internationally, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has condemned Canada’s approach and urged the government not to proceed. Taken together, the message is clear: both at home and abroad, there’s serious alarm over where this policy leads.
With mounting opposition and the deadline for implementation approaching in 2027, Parliament will again revisit the issue this fall.
A private member’s bill from MP Tamara Jansen, Bill C-218, which seeks to repeal the 2027 expansion clause, will bring the issue back to the floor for debate.
Her speech introducing the bill asked MPs to imagine someone’s child, broken by job loss or heartbreak, reaching a dark place. “Imagine they feel a loss so deep they are convinced the world would be better off without them,” she said. “Our society could end a person’s life solely for a mental health challenge.”
That isn’t compassion. That’s surrender.
Expanding MAiD to mental illness risks turning a temporary crisis into a permanent decision. It treats pain as untreatable, despair as destiny, and bureaucracy as wisdom. It signals to the vulnerable that Canada is no longer offering help—just a final form to sign.
Parliament still has time to reverse course. It should reject the expansion, reinvest in suicide prevention and reassert that mental suffering deserves treatment—not a state-sanctioned exit.
Daniel Zekveld is a Policy Analyst with the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) Canada.
© Troy Media
22-21
Last thing we need is some government creating a department of death industry.
Ill-informed (but not surprising from our local curmudgeon.) As a supporter of MAID, I am irritated by the reference to “death industry”. As with the Netherlands , checks and balances govern the sanctioning or otherwise for those requesting to die on their own terms.
Religious beliefs, presumably held by ARPA – those believing in a “natural death” or until “God wills it” – do not have a right to impose such ideologically driven impositions on others. That being said, the author is dwelling on mental health issues and his point is well taken, at least by this person firmly believing in the mandate of the current MAID legislation. Debate , not fool hardy statements by the likes of BW are required.
Buckwheat’s response is of no use to this reasoned debate , merely trivializing the entire discussion.
Agreed, from someone with more than one family member having navigated the MAID process, I find the letter lacking context, and bw’s comment downright offensive (but I think being offensive is his goal). You just do not say, I’m feeling down today, think I’ll go get MAID. No, that’s very far from how it works. Multiple assessment from the MAID team, 2 doctors must agree and sign off, and the wait time is different depending on how the situation with the individual is assessed. The evaluation has rigor and thoughtfulness.
Great letter by Daniel Zekveld. MAID (a euphemism!) is an attack on those who feel unloved and are a burden to the government. People who need help cause expense to the government, so the government thinks its best to kill. Of course someone in pain will want MAID if he or she has no one who cares for them and has a death doctor or another kind of “health care” provider pushing death down his or her throat.
For those who are suffering mentally, and feel they have no purpose in life, I suggest finding a Men’s Shed society nearest you. They are across Canada. https://mensshedscanada.ca/find-a-shed-in-canada/ This non-profit organization welcomes all walks of life, guys only obviously, sorry, no matter their skill set or personal worth. As a group we seek not only to bring up a person that is down, but they help the community in positive ways. I suggest looking into this.
Yes, and I hope anyone facing anxiety, depression, etc that results in suicidal thoughts seeks out help. Professional or personal , please talk with somebody.
it’s a great group. we have one here in Lethbridge, started last June, and just got, or getting close, to Society Status. Next step, non-profit status so business can donate with a tax credit