10 years of MAID in Canada: love, pain, and divisions
As the country marks a decade since medical assistance in dying became legal, four people reflect on how it has reshaped their lives.
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Ten years after Canada legalized medical assistance in dying, opinions have grown far more divided than they were at the outset. The legal framework has evolved to allow more people to choose this path, while further planned expansions have been delayed.
Evie Wallace remembers the anxiety in the room when her husband Hugh received MAID in April 2016, two months before the law came into place on June 17 that year. Hugh had lived with multiple sclerosis for 35 years and was later diagnosed with non-curable small cell lung cancer. After securing court approval, he became one of the earliest to use the procedure. "We could actually see the pain leaving Hugh's face," Wallace recalls. For Hugh, an engineer who valued control, MAID offered a way to end suffering with dignity.
Claire Brosseau's story is different. Over 35 years, she's been treated for bipolar disorder, an eating disorder, substance use disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. She planned to apply for MAID years ago when it was set to become available to people suffering solely from mental illness, but that expansion has been delayed. "I was never supposed to be alive this long," she says, her fluffy Maltipoo resting on her lap in her Toronto apartment.
The anniversary arrives as the country grapples with competing visions of what MAID means: for some, a peaceful memory of a loved one's final moments; for others, shame that death has become a solution to suffering; and for those ineligible, deeper pain from waiting.