Alberta has passed legislation adding safeguards to medical assistance in dying (MAiD) in a move praised by evangelical leaders.
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) commended policymakers for passing Bill 18, the Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act, on April 22.
Under the new rules, MAiD is allowed only for adults who are expected to die within 12 months. The law also limits access where mental illness is the sole medical condition.
Julia Beazley, director of the EFC Centre for Faith and Public Life, told Christian Daily International that the move sets an example for other Canadian provinces.
“We're encouraged to see Alberta pass this legislation adding much-needed limits and safeguards to the delivery of medical assistance in dying (MAiD) in their province,” said Beazley.
“Alberta’s legislation doesn’t change the federal law, which allows MAiD as an exception under the homicide laws in certain circumstances. Provinces regulate how they deliver health care, and this is an example for other provinces of ways to protect Canadians in vulnerable circumstances.”
Beazley, on behalf of the EFC, sent a letter of commendation on April 27 to Mickey Amery, minister of justice and attorney general for the Government of Alberta, strongly supporting the bill. In the letter, Beazley said the law helps promote life-affirming care and puts in place safeguards to protect Albertans in vulnerable circumstances.
Beazley emphasized the importance of the law in complementing recommendations by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) to repeal Track 2 MAiD, which assists people to die whose sole underlying medical condition is mental illness. She made a similar point about UN recommendations against MAiD for mature minors.
“We firmly believe that in order to protect persons from feeling pressured to request hastened death in moments of vulnerability and to avoid undue influence by medical professionals, it is essential that conversations about medical assistance in dying be patient-initiated,” wrote Beazley.
“Many faith-based institutions provide senior care, extended care and hospice care. The care they offer is an expression of the deeply held beliefs of the communities that provide the care. We are thankful these institutions will not be compelled to facilitate or allow assisted death on their premises.
“It is essential to maintain MAiD-free spaces where patients are not offered MAiD and do not feel pressured to seek it, and where medical professionals who object to MAiD are not required to participate in it. These spaces are a protection for both patients and staff.”
Alberta’s move follows similar restrictions in Quebec and comes ahead of the federal expansion of MAiD eligibility for mental illness, scheduled for March 2027. However, Alberta is the first province to restrict MAiD for patients who are not dying.
Derek Ross, executive director of Christian Legal Fellowship, in a March 23 article for The Globe and Mail, said about 76,000 Canadians have died from MAiD since it was legalized in 2016.
He said 5% of all deaths in Canada in 2024 occurred through MAiD, with reasons including “isolation, loneliness or being a perceived burden on others” cited by many who chose assisted dying.
“Some may feel that they have no other choice to escape their socioeconomic distress,” added Ross.
He pointed out that federal law only decriminalized MAiD in certain circumstances.
“The Criminal Code does not automatically add MAiD to provincial health care systems, nor could it, as that is a matter of provincial jurisdiction,” wrote Ross.
“The essence of Alberta’s legislation is to exclude certain forms of MAiD from health care in the province.”
Ross added that because the Criminal Code does not prohibit an act, it does not mean a province must perform, facilitate or fund it.
“While the federal government gets to determine what counts as a crime, each province gets to determine what counts as health care, and they may choose — as Alberta has done — to prioritize life-affirming care for patients,” he said.
Ross questioned how Canada can be committed to suicide prevention and supporting people with mental health issues at the same time as “offering them state-sponsored death.”
He added that any idea of MAiD offering “durable, error-free safeguards” is illusory.
He referred to 428 cases of MAiD in Ontario alone between 2018 and 2023 where assisted dying may have been provided illegally. “We ignore these reports at our own peril,” he added.
The legal expert said the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not require provinces to offer MAiD within health care systems for mental illness or for patients who are not dying.
“Given how MAiD has unfolded in Canada, it is increasingly difficult to argue that provinces are ever required to offer it as health care,” he wrote.
“Alberta is the first province to robustly challenge this idea. We hope it is not the last.”
