The federal government will introduce legislation this fall that will indefinitely extend the ban on access to a medically assisted death for people who are only suffering from a mental illness, Justice Minister Sean Fraser said on Wednesday.
“Canada has made a decision not to move forward with the expansion that is scheduled in the Criminal Code of medical assistance in dying in circumstances where mental illness is the sole basis,” he said in the foyer of the House of Commons.
Fraser said the government’s decision reflects the position expressed by a special parliamentary committee report released in June along with his own department’s probing of the issue.
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“While there is not a perfect consensus on this issue, we believe this is the correct approach at this particular time,” he said.
Fraser said the promised legislation will also “open the door” for people to give advance consent for their own medically assisted death in circumstances where the illness they are suffering from will eventually eliminate their capacity to make that decision.
The minister explained that while the details of advance consent will be worked out in House of Commons committees, it will require a person’s illness to be incurable and result in intolerable suffering.
More to come.
