Canada's assisted dying laws face court challenges on both sides

Canada's medical assistance in dying laws are on what law professor Jocelyn Downie calls "a collision course" as courts hear competing Charter challenges to the current eligibility rules.

The Supreme Court of Canada struck down laws criminalizing assisted dying in 2015. The Liberal government legalized MAID on June 17, 2016, limiting eligibility to those whose deaths were "reasonably foreseeable." Advocates felt the restriction didn't match the court's intent. After a Quebec Superior Court ruling, Ottawa expanded eligibility in 2021 to include people suffering from a grievous and irremediable medical condition whose deaths are not reasonably foreseeable — now called track 2 MAID.

The law currently excludes people with mental illness — a restriction set to end next March, unless the federal government delays it a third time.

Polls suggest most Canadians support MAID: 89 per cent support it in cases of terminal illness, and 84 per cent support it for people suffering intolerably but not near the end of their lives. But the public debate remains polarized.

Disability advocacy group Inclusion Canada is leading a Charter challenge in Ontario court arguing track 2 MAID is discriminatory, citing a United Nations report calling on Canada to repeal it and focus on disability supports instead. Health Minister Marjorie Michel said Monday the government has no plans to change the existing law.

Meanwhile, some witnesses before a parliamentary committee have characterized MAID as "legalized serial killing" or argued it amounts to discarding vulnerable people. Others, like Downie, say extending MAID to people with mental illness is legally required.

Law professor Kerri Froc says there's "a serious case to be made" that the current law "violates Section 7 and 15" of the Charter with respect to people with disabilities.