The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) welcomes the federal government’s plan to table legislation this fall to maintain the exclusion of mental illness as the sole underlying condition for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) on an indeterminate basis.
Today’s announcement reflects concerns that CAMH has raised with the government in the past around the proposed expansion of MAiD to include mental illness as a sole underlying condition. These concerns include the lack of established criteria and consensus amongst psychiatrists for if and when a mental illness should be considered irremediable, and inequitable access to mental health support and services in our current healthcare system. For a thorough explanation of CAMH’s position, please see our submission to the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying on April 28th, 2026.
CAMH’s position on MAiD for mental illness as the sole underlying condition: Only when we have evidence-informed, consensus-based criteria for determining the irremediability of a person’s mental illness, and for distinguishing between a request for MAiD and suicide intent – and only when such criteria can be introduced into a well-resourced mental health system – will it be possible to offer safe, adequate and equitable MAiD services to people whose only medical condition is mental illness.