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Aug 25, 2025
Bill C-218 Proposes to Scrap Expansion of Euthanasia for Mental Illness
In June 2025, Member of Parliament Tamara Jansen introduced a new bill seeking to repeal the impending expansion of euthanasia to those with mental illness. Bill C-218, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying), is an important piece of legislation to protect Canadians who are suffering from mental illness.
Euthanasia for those with mental illness was first raised in Bill C-7 in 2021, which originally set a date of March 17, 2023, for the expansion. However, due to pressure from medical professionals, the general public, and multiple provincial governments, the federal government delayed that expansion to March 17, 2024, and subsequently to March 17, 2027.
But the federal government chose to only delay the upcoming expansion rather than scrap it entirely, saying that the country was simply not ‘ready’ to expand euthanasia to those with mental illness as their sole underlying condition. But Canada will never be ready for euthanasia for mental illness.
In 2023, former Member of Parliament Ed Fast introduced Bill C-314, which also would have repealed the expansion of euthanasia to those with mental illness as the only condition causing their request. Although that bill received unanimous support from Conservative, NDP, and Green MPs, along with 8 Liberals, it failed to pass by a vote of 150-167.
Such a close vote sends a message that Canadians have serious reservations about expanding euthanasia further. If only nine more MPs had voted in favour instead of against, the bill would have passed 2nd reading and advanced to committee for further study. Now, MPs have another opportunity to stop the expansion of euthanasia and to emphasize suicide prevention, not suicide assistance, for those suffering from mental illness.
The Tragedy of Euthanasia for Mental Illness
Euthanasia must not be a solution for mental illness. As a nation, we have poured resources into suicide prevention across the country, particularly for people with mental illness. Canada now has a suicide crisis hotline to help people escape suicidal ideation. We should continue to do this rather than encouraging suicide assistance through euthanasia. Indeed, offering suicide assistance undermines suicide prevention efforts.
As a country, we raise awareness around mental illness and encourage people to seek help or treatment. For example, Bell Let’s Talk Day is all about reducing the stigma around mental illness and getting people the mental health care that they need. Euthanasia for mental illness entirely undercuts these efforts. Rather than encouraging people to access mental health care, legalizing euthanasia for mental illness encourages people to end their lives instead.
Allowing euthanasia for mental illness sends the message that life may not be worth living. But people who struggle with mental illness need hope that they can improve or recover in the long term. Offering euthanasia may cause them to give up hope. And yet there is no consensus in the medical community regarding whether mental illness can ever be considered irremediable. Rather than providing a life-ending option for Canadians with mental illness, Canadian governments should provide better access to mental health supports and care.
In her introduction to Bill C-218, MP Jansen asked MPs to “imagine that someone’s son or daughter has been battling depression for some time after losing their job or maybe due to a broken relationship. Imagine they feel a loss so deep they are convinced the world would be better off without them … Our society could end a person’s life for solely a mental health challenge.”
Is this the Canada we want to live in? We must give care, support, and compassion to those who are suffering instead of normalizing euthanasia as a solution for mental illness.
The Road Before Us
Bill C-218 again offers Canada the opportunity to step back from the euthanasia cliff and onto firmer ground that respects the value and dignity of human life. We are grateful that another MP has taken up this issue and is pushing the government to repeal further expansion of euthanasia.
The fact that this is still a live issue and that five pieces of legislation have arisen on this topic in just four years is a testament to continued advocacy by Canadians. Through the Care Not Kill campaign, Canadians across the country have emailed and met with MPs, talked with neighbours, and delivered nearly 250,000 flyers to spread the message of caring, not killing.
This has contributed to the ongoing conversation, but with another bill on the table, we need to get back at it. Take a few minutes to email your own Member of Parliament expressing your support of Bill C-218 and ask them to support it as well. Copy Prime Minister Mark Carney, Minister of Justice Sean Fraser, and Health Minister Marjorie Michel on that email, encouraging the government to support the legislation as well.
We must continue to advocate for caring for, not killing, those who are suffering from mental illness. And we can continue to put pressure on our elected officials to do the same.
