The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) has welcomed the federal government’s pledge to permanently stop the planned expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAiD) to people whose only condition is mental illness.
But the group says it has “grave concerns” about the government’s plan, announced at the same time, to allow advance requests for MAiD.
MAiD for mental illness alone is provisionally set to become available March 17, 2027. The government says it will introduce a bill this fall to cancel that expansion before the deadline.
The announcement came after MPs voted down a private member’s bill, 187-141, on Oct. 7. Member of Parliament Tamara Jansen introduced Bill C-218, which the EFC supported, in the House of Commons on June 20, 2025. It would have removed the provisions set to allow MAiD for mental illness alone in 2027.
“The EFC had supported this bill to stop MAiD for mental illness,” the EFC said in a statement. “We regret that it did not pass. We thank the bill’s sponsor and all those who championed it.”
After the vote, Justice Minister Sean Fraser and Health Minister Marjorie Michel held a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa.
Fraser said the government would introduce legislation this fall “to permanently halt the expansion of MAID for individuals whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness.”
“To be clear: our government has decided not to proceed with expanding MAID eligibility to include mental illness as a sole underlying condition,” he said.
Fraser said the government had concluded from evidence and discussions with experts across the country that “the health system is not in a position to safely and consistently apply MAiD safeguards for individuals suffering solely from psychiatric conditions.”
“Assessing irremediability in mental disorders presents unique, profound challenges that distinguish it from physical or terminal conditions,” he said.
When a person is in severe psychiatric distress, Fraser said, telling apart a desire to die caused by mental illness and “a clear, fully informed decision to access MAID requires absolute scientific and clinical certainty.”
“That certainty simply does not exist across our medical systems today,” he said.
“Our primary duty as a government is the protection of vulnerable Canadians,” Fraser added. He said the government would instead focus on strengthening mental health care, expanding suicide prevention services and supporting people in distress.
Michel said the government would “double down” on mental health support. She pledged to strengthen community-based mental health programs, improve rapid access to psychiatric care and therapy across provinces and territories, and expand crisis intervention and suicide prevention resources, including the national 988 lifeline.
“We must ensure that no Canadian ever feels that ending their life is the only option available due to a lack of timely health services or social support,” she said.
The EFC said it was “thankful for this positive news.” But the group is concerned that the same fall bill would change the Criminal Code to allow advance requests for MAiD in some provinces that have legislated a system of safeguards.
Fraser said advance requests would be for people diagnosed with a serious and irremediable illness who may lose the capacity to consent in the future.
“The EFC’s response to this future legislation is likely to be nuanced,” the EFC statement said.
The group said it has advocated extensively for an indefinite delay of MAiD for mental illness and welcomed the government’s position.
“At the same time, we have grave concerns about allowing advance requests for MAiD. The time is short,” the statement said.
The vote came two days after two University of Toronto psychiatry professors raised concerns about Canada’s MAiD system in The New York Times.
In an Oct. 5 op-ed, Madeline Li and Gary Rodin described a woman in her 70s who was approved for assisted dying after she lost the ability to cook for her family, The Christian Post reported. She felt she had lost her value to them.
After counseling, she decided not to go through with it, the psychiatrists wrote. Li and Rodin, one of whom has administered MAiD, warned that Canada’s system “is no longer an option of last resort.”
