An announcement made Wednesday by the Federal Justice Minister means that Canadians with mental illness as their sole condition planning to access assisted dying by March 2027 will not be able to do so.

The legislation includes an exclusion to provide MAID to an individual with mental illness as their sole condition. That exclusion is set to expire next March but Sean Fraser says the exclusion will now be extended indefinitely.

Fraser says one of the reasons for the decision was very real concerns around people living in communities with inadequate access to mental health services.

However, Canada has decided to include in its legislation a decision to grant access to medical assistance in dying to people who have provided consent at a time when they still have capacity but know that they have been diagnosed with an illness, such as Alzheimer’s, that will subsequently rob them of that capacity.

Sean Fraser says the decision isn’t establishing new healthcare services that fall within provincial government jurisdiction but is ensuring the criminal code is changed to reflect the fact that a doctor who provides medical assistance in dying with someone who has complied with these legislative terms in provincial territories will not be treated as a criminal.

“We will only allow to medical assistance in dying in provinces that legislate it’s access for people with incurable illnesses and are experiencing intolerable suffering.”