Remarks made by multiple Liberal MPs and a Bloc Québécois representative in the House of Commons signal the two federal parties are poised to vote against Bill C-218, which aims to stop approval of euthanasia access to individuals solely living with a mental illness starting on March 17, 2027.

Tabled by Conservative MP Tamara Jansen, Bill C-218 completed its first of two scheduled debate sessions Dec. 5.

“We are already witnessing cases where safeguards fail, where capacity is misjudged and where people are assessed in moments of confusion, exhaustion or pressure,” said Jansen during her sponsor’s speech. “If the system cannot uphold basic protections now, it will not and cannot protect those suffering from severe psychological distress. An expansion would be reckless.”

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All major speakers for the Liberals and Bloc stated a preference to wait for the conclusions of a joint committee on medical assistance on dying (MAiD), which will be convened on Feb. 28, 2026, to determine if assisted suicide eligibility should or should not be broadened. None of the seven NDP parliamentarians participated in the debate.

Along with imposing a three-year delay on greenlighting MAiD for Canadians experiencing mental illness, Bill C-62, which received royal assent on Feb. 29, 2024, called for a committee to convene, consider expert testimony, and, if warranted, prepare a report that could potentially recommend changes to the Criminal Code related to euthanasia.

Given that Bill C-218 will be deliberated for the second and final time in February and voted on some time in March, mere days or weeks after this joint body assembles, it appears unlikely, at least at present, for Jansen's proposal to pass second reading.

Liberal MP Juanita Nathan acknowledged that Bill C-218 “asks us to confront difficult but deeply important questions” and she does “look forward to hearing from colleagues as well as from experts, stakeholders and regular people, including those with lived experience with mental illness.”

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Claude DeBellefeuille of the Bloc proclaimed, “it is not up to a political party to decide whether to implement a medical assistance in dying procedure for people with mental health issues.” She floated the possibility that, as a result of the committee’s work, “government departments, scientists and psychiatrists will conclude that we are not ready.”

Culture of life advocates and medical professionals who oppose Canada’s rapidly growing medical-killing regime resoundingly proclaimed during a news conference assembled by Euthanasia Prevention Coalition executive director Alex Schadenberg hours before the debate that Canada should never proceed further down this path.

Canadian Armed Forces combat veteran Kelsi Sheren — a 36-year-old veteran who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and a traumatic brain injury following her frontline service in Afghanistan — revealed there are now 20 documented cases of veterans, a group prone to mental illness because of the horrors they experienced, being offered MAiD, and “one in September actually accepted it.” 

“Treatments that could save lives like advanced therapies for PTSD, depression and chronic trauma remain trapped behind bureaucracy, fear and political cowardice,” declared Sheren. “Other nations are pioneering recovery while Canada is pioneering resignation.”

She added that “a nation shows its value by how it treats its most vulnerable, and right now, Canada is sending a message to the world: your life is optional, and your suffering is inconvenient. This cannot continue, not for veterans, not with people with disabilities and not for anybody else.”

Montreal-based family physician Dr. Paul Saba cautioned “that we know already that nobody can know who is treatable and untreatable. You will have two physicians say the extreme opposite: one will say they can be treated, and the other will say ‘No, they can’t be treated.' ”

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Alicia Duncan recounted how her mother, Donna, was granted MAiD on Oct. 29, 2021, even though she was experiencing mental illness at the time. Duncan and her sister Christine’s public advocacy work compelled Abbotsford police to open an investigation in 2022, but it closed in 2023 as a result of Fraser Health Authority not turning over key documentation.

She called upon Canadians to consider that “if restricting MAiD is viewed as a violation of human rights, then denying Canadians access to timely care must also be understood as a violation of their human rights. My mother’s life and her death reveal something we can no longer ignore: a country that cannot reliably provide care cannot responsibly provide death as its substitute.”