International pressure is mounting on Canada to repeal its medical assistance in dying (MAiD) law after a United Nations disability rights committee issued a warning expressing “extreme concern” over legislation that permits euthanasia for people without a foreseeable natural death.
A revised law passed on March 17, 2021, removed the requirement that a person’s death be reasonably foreseeable in order to qualify for MAiD. Under the change—referred to as “Track 2”—adults with “a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability” may be eligible. Mental illness is excluded until March 17, 2027, according to the Government of Canada.
MAiD participants must also be “in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability” and/or have “enduring and intolerable physical or psychological suffering that cannot be alleviated under conditions the person considers acceptable.”
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) has welcomed recent comments by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which called for these broad criteria to be repealed in a report published March 21, following its 779th meeting on March 18.
The committee accused the Canadian federal government of ableism in enshrining the current MAiD eligibility, citing its failure to challenge the Truchon v. Canada decision on Sept. 11, 2019. That Quebec Superior Court ruling struck down the requirement for a “reasonable foreseeability of natural death” in federal MAiD laws.
According to the committee, the Truchon decision fundamentally shifted the program’s intent—from assisting those facing imminent death to establishing “a new program that establishes medically assisted dying for persons with disabilities based on negative, ableist perceptions of the quality and value of the life of persons with disabilities.”
This included the ableist view that “‘suffering’ is intrinsic to disability rather than the fact that inequality and discrimination cause and compound ‘suffering’ for persons with disabilities.”
“The concept of ‘choice’ creates a false dichotomy by setting up the premise that if persons with disabilities are suffering, it is valid for the State Party to enable their death, with safeguards not guaranteeing the provision of support, and ableist assumptions deemphasising the myriad of support options for persons with disabilities to live dignified lives,” added the U.N. committee.
Further concerns included what the committee described as the failure of Canadian authorities to address “social determinants” such as health care, homelessness, mental health support and housing, which impact the decisions of people with disabilities who choose MAiD.
Women with disabilities “disproportionately” access MAiD, the committee stated, along with individuals living in marginalized situations.
“There is an upward trajectory of persons with disabilities killed through Track 2 MAiD,” noted the committee.
The U.N. also castigated federal plans to expand Track 2 MAiD to people suffering solely from mental illness, to permit access to “mature minors,” to allow advance requests for assisted dying, and to continue without independent federal oversight to handle MAiD-related complaints. The committee also cited insufficient consultation with Indigenous peoples.
Recommendations included repealing Track 2 altogether, halting the proposed expansions, and affirming the right to life for people with disabilities.
The committee also called for significant investment at all levels of government to address poverty, improve access to housing, prevent homelessness and improve health care. It further urged consultation with Indigenous communities and the creation of a federal independent regulator.
The recommendations followed the committee’s review of Canada’s legal compliance with the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted in 2006.
In January 2025, the EFC submitted a brief calling for the repeal of Track 2 and a halt to MAiD’s expansion.
In the EFC brief, it was pointed out that the effect of Track 2 of MAiD meant that, “people who weren’t nearing death could be eligible for euthanasia if they had a disability, putting people with disabilities outside of the protections offered to other Canadians.”
As the EFC’s brief stated, “Eligibility for euthanasia on the basis of disability endangers and devalues the lives of disabled Canadians.”
“The EFC welcomes the committee’s recommendations and calls on Canada to follow them,” added the EFC statement.
