Carney Holds Off on MAID for Mental Illness as Committee Report Looms

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday he won't take a position yet on whether people with only a mental illness should be able to access assisted dying.

"I like to take informed positions and I'll wait for the report," he said before a Liberal caucus meeting on Parliament Hill.

A parliamentary committee is studying whether Canada is ready to expand medical assistance in dying, or MAID, to people whose sole condition is a mental illness. The extension is set for March 2027.

Most psychiatrists and legal experts testifying say Canada should not proceed, citing concerns about assessing irremediability.

Dr. Sanjeev Sockalingam, chief medical officer at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, testified there are no established criteria for when a mental illness should be considered irremediable.

Liberal MP Greg Fergus hopes the report is done before the summer parliamentary break. Justice Minister Sean Fraser said it's premature to commit to another delay.