Why the debate about MAID for mental illness still rages and where the conversation is at today – CBC

Questions remain after federal committee recommends excluding people with mental illness from accessing MAID

Jun 22, 2026

The debate over whether Canadians with mental illness should have access to a medically assisted death ramped up this past week raising questions around why it’s so heavily scrutinized and who is most impacted.

On Wednesday, the Special Joint Committee of Medical Assistance in Dying (AMAD) tabled its final report recommending that the government amend the Criminal Code to “indefinitely exclude” people whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness from applying for medical assistance in dying (MAID).

While MAID has been available in Canada for the last decade, it was only five years ago that people without a reasonably foreseeable natural death became eligible to apply.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/maid-mental-illness-canada-9.7240830