MAiD for mental illness up for quick debate

The Help Not Harm Act is slated for a second hour of debate Sept. 23, the third day of the fall parliamentary session. And if current scheduling remains intact, Bill C-218 will undergo its pivotal second reading vote in the House of Commons Oct. 7.

Conservative MP Tamara Jansen outlined the present roadmap for her legislation that, if passed, would permanently stop the Canadian euthanasia regime from becoming accessible to individuals solely living with a mental illness on March 17, 2027, during a Sept. 9 appearance on The Catholic Register’s podcast Registered.

Jansen learned during public town halls in London, Hamilton and St. Catharines, Ont.,  late last month alongside party colleague Andrew Lawton, that there are many Canadians who believe a special joint parliamentary committee settled this issue in June. This body, largely comprised of Liberal and Conservative MPs and Senators, including the Cloverdale-Langley City representative, recommended indefinitely halting any proposed expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAiD).

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She said this official advice is just a step, and that time is of the essence to complete many important legislative steps.

“Currently we are still on a path where this law will become enforced by March 2027, which is like a freight train coming down the track,” said Jansen. “People were shocked by that bit of information, but we helped them understand how we got here and what we need to push in order that this recommendation, which was a fabulous outcome, will become legislation.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s last public comments about MAiD were made on June 26, 10 days after the committee released its report and suggested actions. He said in French that “there’s a report, after much deliberation and many testimonies. So, I think it’s significant. But this isn’t a personal matter, it’s a matter of the rights of Canadians, and the medical evidence and expert advice. So, we’ll make a decision, but it seems to me the direction is clear.”

Unless an announcement is made before Sept. 23, the second reading debate session will be the first opportunity for the public to learn whether Liberal MPs will ultimately throw support behind Bill C-218, or if the governing party, armed with a majority since April 13, will table its own bill.

Jansen questions the need for alternative legislation given her Help Not Harm Act would evidently enact the permanent pause the committee endorsed.

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“We have been hearing behind the scenes that they are not wanting to support our bill, but they want to bring in a whole new piece of legislation,” said Jansen. “Our concern is what will be in that bill? Will there be a poison pill? What exactly are they planning when they put forward their own bill, especially because my bill, C-218, does exactly what the recommendation is from the committee. This is already on the table and in process.”

A coalition of entities has rallied Canadians in recent months to speak out in favour of Bill C-218 and urge their Member of Parliament to vote in its favour.

During her Registered appearance, Jansen said the Archdiocese of Toronto’s Help Not Harm awareness campaign “warms my heart.”

“I’m absolutely stunned at how much the Catholic Church has done to push this forward and really fight for the vulnerable,” she said. “They’ve always been right up front on this issue. To see the archdiocese go and mobilize all their members gives me hope we can get somewhere with this.”

Neil McCarthy, the Toronto archdiocese’s director of public relations and communications, shared on Registered that the country’s largest Catholic community felt a need to respond. He noted that since euthanasia was legalized in June 2016, “we’ve seen the expansion of MAiD in Canada at an alarming rate, greater than any country around the world really, when we were told at the time it would be used in limited circumstances only.

“I remember Cardinal (Thomas) Collins, who, as the archbishop at the time, talked about ‘once you open the door and have that slippery slope and you say it’s okay to take the life of someone, we move down that path, and it is going to be dark,’ and it has been.”

Euthanasia accounted for 5.1 per cent of Canadian fatalities in 2024. By contrast, these procedures accounted for 2.5 per cent of deaths just four years earlier in 2020.

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Looking ahead to the decisive six months before March 17, 2027, McCarthy shared that from the archdiocese’s “side of things, whether it’s Conservative or Liberal, it doesn’t really matter the party. If we can restrict the expansion of MAiD, that’s our goal.”

Visit helpnotharmcanada.ca to learn more.

(Amundson is an associate editor and writer for The Catholic Register.)