Canada legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide in June 2016 under the term "Medical Assistance in Dying" (MAiD).

In December 2016, the federal government announced that the Council of Canadian Academies would research and provide recommendations concerning three specific types of requests for euthanasia. The purpose of this was to facilitate an informed, evidence-based, dialogue among Canadians and decision-makers.

As part of this dialogue, we emphasized our opposition to euthanasia for psychiatric reasons alone.

On September 11, 2019, the Superior Court of Québec struck down the requirement that natural death must be "reasonably forseeable" for a person to qualify for euthanasia in Canada. This decision was not appealed.

The Canadian government is preparing to launch their 5-year review of the euthanasia law in the summer of 2020. This review is supposed to provide the opportunity to hear from Canadians about how the law is working, and to see if any changes should be made.

To this end, the Department of Justice put out an online consultation questionnaire in January (now closed). Canada's Justice Minister, David Lametti, told CBC Radio One (Feb 01, 2020) that, based on the questionnaire, Canadians want more access to euthanasia (MAiD):

"...Lametti said one possible result of making these changes to the law will be to extend MAID to people whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental disorder."

Once again, we emphasize our opposition to euthanasia for psychiatric reasons alone.

Link to article (Oct 29, 2018): Is Euthanasia Psychiatric Treatment?
Link to article (Sept 11, 2019): Quebec court expands Canada's euthanasia law by striking the terminal illness requirement. Euthanasia for psychological reasons is next.
Link to article (Feb 02, 2020): Canada's Justice Minister says that euthanasia may be expanded to included people with mental illness.