Canada delays assisted death expansion for mental illness until 2027

Claire Elyse Brosseau’s worry is simple and stark: Canada may change the law too late for her. The federal government has pushed back expansion of medical assistance in dying for people whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness until March 17, 2027, keeping one of the country’s most divisive end-of-life questions unresolved.

Parliament gave the delay royal assent on February 29, 2024 through Bill C-62, preserving the current exclusion while provinces, territories, health systems and clinicians build policies, training and safeguards. Justice Canada said the extra time was meant to let the system prepare. Health Canada says MAID has been legal in Canada since 2016 and that the federal framework still sets strict eligibility criteria and safeguards.

The political pressure on both sides is intense because public support for MAID remains broad. In an Ipsos poll conducted March 15-20, 2024 for Dying With Dignity Canada, 84% of Canadians supported the Carter v. Canada decision that helped establish the right to assisted dying. The same survey found 83% backed advance requests for MAID in cases of capacity-eroding grievous and irremediable illness, and 71% supported advance requests even for competent people not yet diagnosed with such a condition.

Yet the question of mental illness continues to divide doctors, psychiatrists and disability advocates. The Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying warned in its January 2024 report, MAID and Mental Disorders: The Road Ahead, that the system was not ready for cases involving mental disorders alone. CAMH said in an April 2026 FAQ that it continues to recommend further delay, while the Canadian Psychiatric Association has issued guidance for clinicians on assessing MAID requests involving mental disorders and managing suicide risk.

Health Canada’s Sixth Annual Report on MAID, covering 2024, shows how quickly the program has grown even as this latest expansion has been delayed. The report says 16,499 people received MAID in 2024, accounting for 5.1% of deaths in Canada. Annual growth slowed to 6.9% from 2023 to 2024, a sign that the program is still expanding but at a more measured pace.

That scale makes the delay more than a technical pause. It leaves Canada balancing uneven readiness across provinces and territories against a growing national practice, while forcing the country to decide how far autonomy should reach when suffering is psychological, diagnosis is uncertain and the state is asked to judge whether relief has become irreversible. By March 17, 2027, that balance will need to be settled.