Assisted dying expansion delay not based on mental health stereotypes: minister

Arif Virani says allowing access to an assisted death solely on the basis of a mental disorder is a complex endeavour — and that's the only reason for the delay.

Canada’s justice minister is rejecting charges that the federal government is perpetuating mental-illness stereotypes by delaying a planned expansion of medical assistance in dying.

Arif Virani says allowing access to an assisted death solely on the basis of a mental disorder is a complex endeavour — and that’s the only reason for the delay.

The Liberals believe that intolerable mental suffering is equal to that of physical suffering, Virani said. He outlined how the government believes providing an assisted death to someone suffering solely from mental illness is markedly different than other situations.

“We have to make triple sure that we’ve got the rigorous assessment and training that are in place so that people can make that evaluation — it’s critical to get that evaluation right,” he said.

“I don’t think the Constitution mandates me or our government to provide a service, in this case a health-care service, when it is not safe to do so and that is our determination that it is not safe at this time.”

Both he and Health Minister Mark Holland testified before the Senate, which is where the amendment to expand the law in 2021 to include mental illness originated.

Although expanding eligibility to cover mental illness was not in the government’s original bill to update its 2016 law, Holland, who was not health minister at the time, told senators Wednesday that it simply wasn’t an issue he knew much about.

The Liberals ultimately accepted the amendment, inking in a two-year window to prepare that they extended by another year last March.