The New Legislations on the Medically Assisted in Dying (MAID) Laws in Canada
Thousands of Canadians are being offered the choice to die everyday. Almost as often as they are given the chance to improve their conditions, they are given the chance to end it. Medically Assisted In Dying, or MAID, is the law that allows euthanasia in Canada. Euthanasia is when someone’s life is ended using medicine in order to alleviate their suffering. There are a lot of criteria that a person must meet before becoming eligible for MAID, though this list is getting shorter and shorter.
Historically, Canada has prohibited the practice of euthanasia. Here, like in many other places, it has been illegal for as long as people can remember. This all changed, however, in February of 2015, when it was brought to the attention of the Supreme Court that not giving people the right to choose death in the face of pain was against the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. By June of 2016, the new MAID laws were in place, with a very specific outline of criteria that must be met in order to be allowed to register for it.
Some of these criteria included being 18 years old or over, being in the proper state of mind to make decisions, giving informed consent, being a Canadian citizen, and so on. The most important of these, though, was that the patient had to have a “reasonable foreseeability of natural death”, meaning that they would have to be diagnosed with a quickly declining terminal illness.
In October of 2020, when Bill C-7 was introduced, some of these criteria were called into question. Bill C-7 was an amendment to the Criminal Code, a part of which included the MAID laws. This resulted in some people claiming that the “reasonable foreseeability of natural death” section of the law was “unconstitutional” and called for it to be revised. It was then changed according to these claims, and includes those with painful and intolerable illnesses, yet they did not have to be terminal.
In March of 2021, the issue of mental health was brought before the court. If people are allowed to die without terminal illnesses, does that include those with mental illnesses? And if not, then this as well was deemed unconstitutional. Psychological illness can be just as taxing as physical ailments, and many people thought they should be accounted for. In response to this, the government decided to temporarily prohibit people suffering from mental illnesses from receiving treatment under MAID until March 2023, so as to give those in the medical field proper time to prepare for what exactly will be asked of them, and how to respond to the different cases, as mental illness can be so ambiguous.
This past February, another bill was passed, Bill C-39, to delay this by another year, making those with mental illnesses eligible starting on March 17th, 2024.
When asked what they think about this new addition to the law being passed so soon, Canadians had a variety of answers. 61% of citizens agree that the MAID criteria surrounding the “reasonable foreseeability of natural death” were good, and that they thought it was constitutional and moral. However, once mental illness becomes a defining factor, only 31% of people agree that it’s the right choice. Since 2016, the amount of Canadians using MAID have increased ten times over, with 10,000 people using it in 2021.
Many people are starting to view this incline in accessibility as a little much. On the one hand, it is important for options to be open to those who need them. On the other hand, these laws definitely run the risk of being abused. 45% of people don’t agree with this fear, and that’s mainly because they think that the availability of this service is important.
When faced with situations like these, it is always difficult to choose a stance. Both sides are incredibly valid, and yet both cause additional problems as well. When these laws officially reform in March of next year, it is possible that we will see a great incline in their use. Whether this is a positive or negative change is completely up to interpretation, and most likely will be wildly different case by case.
One can only hope that Canadians will remember that just because MAID is now becoming much more easily accessible, does not mean that it is the only accessible thing.
