Liberals table bill to bar access to MAID for mental illness, allow advance requests

“The decision to request MAID must remain theirs, be voluntary, free from external pressure, and remain protected by rigorous safeguards.”

Bill C-41 also would stop a scheduled expansion of MAID access to those suffering solely from a mental illness.

“When it comes to MAID, serious concerns remain about whether these cases can be assessed safely and consistently,” the press release said.

The government has repeatedly pushed back the date when mental illness could become a qualifying factor for an assisted death and asked a special parliamentary committee to study the issue.

That committee concluded in June that people suffering solely from a mental illness should be indefinitely excluded from accessing MAID.

Bill C-41 will need to pass the House of Commons and the Senate before March 17 — the date on which the law states people with a mental illness as their sole underlying condition become eligible for MAID.

The bill outlines safeguards for advance requests — including a requirement that two independent medical or nurse practitioners agree the person meets the criteria.

It also says the procedure will not be administered “if the person demonstrates, by words, sounds or gestures, refusal or resistance to have the substance administered to them.”

The legislation says if the person demonstrates such refusal or resistance, “medical assistance in dying can no longer be provided to them on the basis of that request.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2026.

— With files from Hannah Alberga in Toronto and Catherine Morrison in Ottawa

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Liberals table bill to bar access to MAID for mental illness, allow advance requests

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