Overview
- The Canadian Psychiatric Association, which wrote clinical guidance for assessments, sent a letter this week saying witnesses misrepresented its work and asked to appear to correct the record.
- Legal scholar Jocelyn Downie said the joint committee has strayed from its mandate to assess readiness and has stacked its witness list with opponents of allowing MAID when mental illness is the only condition.
- Committee co-chairs Marcus Powlowski and Yonah Martin oppose the expansion, and a recent meeting featured broad attacks on the existing MAID law that some members, including Sen. Pamela Wallin, called imbalanced.
- Catholic leaders, led by Toronto’s Cardinal Frank Leo, urged Prime Minister Mark Carney to back Bill C-218 to bar access when mental illness is the sole condition, with the bill now at second reading in the House of Commons.
- Ontario’s nursing regulator plans new MAID guidance to prepare staff before potential 2027 eligibility for mental illness, as the federal government awaits a committee report due by early October.