Ottawa Continues to Review Quebec’s Proposal for Approval of Advance Requests for MAID

September 9, 2024 TruthUSA

Health Minister Mark Holland stated that Ottawa is reviewing a proposal from the Quebec government to permit specific early requests for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) this autumn.

“Quebec recently announced their intentions. I have had discussions with various individuals, including ministers from the Quebec government, and I have communicated that we will review the proposal,” Holland informed reporters on September 9.

“We are currently assessing it as we have just received it, and it is crucial that we engage in a societal discussion about its implications.”

Starting on October 30, Quebec patients will have the ability to make advance requests for MAiD before their medical conditions prevent them from giving consent. Quebec passed a law in June 2023 allowing MAiD requests from individuals with severe and incurable illnesses.

On September 7, Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette mentioned in a statement that the government is taking the necessary steps to enable Quebecers to make advance requests for MAiD.

Back in August, when the province announced the authorization of early requests, Seniors Minister Sonia Bélanger noted that Quebec had been requesting amendments to the Criminal Code from the federal government to allow such requests, but decided not to “wait any longer.”

MAiD in Canada

While MAiD became legal in Canada in June 2016, the initial law required individuals to have a “grievous and irremediable medical condition” and for natural death to be “reasonably foreseeable.” Bill C-7, passed in 2021, expanded eligibility by eliminating the foreseeable death requirement.

The bill excluded cases where mental illness was the sole underlying medical condition, with that provision set to expire on March 17, 2023. Ottawa approved bill C-39 on March 9, extending by a year the eligibility of individuals with mental health conditions seeking MAiD.

On January 19, the same day a joint parliamentary committee urged against the expansion, Holland stated that Ottawa was once again extending the deadline. The report also recommended Ottawa amend the Criminal Code to allow for advance MAiD requests post-diagnosis of a serious and incurable medical condition.

Canada’s MAiD system gained international attention in recent times after multiple Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) veterans claimed they were offered MAiD without requesting it. This included CAF veteran and former Paralympian Christine Gauthier, who had been trying for five years to get a wheelchair ramp installed at her residence. She testified before a parliamentary committee in 2022 that a Veterans Affairs Canada worker offered her MAiD unsolicited while seeking assistance from the agency.

According to the federal government’s Fourth Annual Report on MAiD, the number of deaths via the procedure rose by 31.2 percent in 2022. MAiD accounted for 4.1 percent of all deaths in Canada that year. There were 463 cases (3.5 percent of total MAiD deaths in 2022) where the person’s natural death was not foreseeable.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.

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