The government plans an indefinite exclusion while separately proposing advance consent for people expected to lose decision-making capacity.
The Canadian
Health
October 8, 2026
4 min read
The federal government says it will introduce legislation this fall to indefinitely exclude people whose sole underlying condition is mental illness from eligibility for medical assistance in dying. The expansion had been scheduled to take effect next March after earlier delays.
Justice Minister Sean Fraser said the decision reflects a June report from a special parliamentary committee and a Justice Department review. The government’s position is that Canada is not ready to proceed with the planned expansion, even as advocates and clinicians remain divided over whether an indefinite exclusion protects vulnerable patients or unfairly limits autonomy.
The promised legislation is also expected to address a separate issue: advance consent for people diagnosed with an illness that will eventually remove their capacity to confirm a decision. Fraser said the government intends to open a pathway for doctors to act on a request made while a patient was still capable of providing informed consent.
Those two questions should not be collapsed. Eligibility when mental illness is the only condition raises concerns about assessing irremediability, treatment access and suicide prevention. Advance consent concerns a patient who qualifies under other medical circumstances but may lose the ability to provide final confirmation as disease progresses.
The legislation has not yet been tabled, so its safeguards and implementation details remain unknown. Parliament’s task will be to turn the announcement into precise rules that clinicians can follow and patients can understand, while making clear how consent can be confirmed, withdrawn and documented.
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