Hon. Patti LaBoucane-Benson (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, pursuant to rule 4-13(3), I would like to inform the Senate that as we proceed with Government Business, the Senate will address the items in the following order: second reading of Bill C-62, followed by Motion No. 156, followed by all remaining items in the order that they appear on the Order Paper.

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, thank you to all honourable colleagues who have intervened this evening on this very important issue and debate.

I rise today to speak to Bill C-62, An Act to amend An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying), No. 2, as the opposition critic in the Senate. Bill C-62 extends the exclusion of eligibility for receiving medical assistance in dying in circumstances where the sole underlying medical condition identified in support of the request for MAID is a mental illness until March 17, 2027.

Former Bill C-7 expanded the eligibility for MAID to persons whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable. Originally, the bill excluded eligibility to receive MAID in circumstances in which mental illness was the sole underlying medical condition. However, as others have noted, Senator Kutcher’s amendment was adopted at third reading to allow MAID for mental illness, with a sunset clause. I did not personally support that amendment, but the government accepted this amendment, and the law that was ultimately passed included a sunset clause date of March 17, 2023.

Parliamentarians heard from constituents and media who spoke and reported on the concerns and dangers MAID for mental illness was creating in Canada, specifically with the looming coming into force of the sunset clause on March 17, 2023.

On February 2, 2023, the government tabled Bill C-39, which extended the deadline for one year, and reconstituted the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying to review the readiness for MAID with the sole underlying condition being mental illness. The reconstituted committee was tasked with studying the degree of preparedness attained for safe and adequate application of medical assistance in dying where mental disorder is the sole underlying medical condition.

I had previously served as co-chair of the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying with former MP Marc Garneau in the spring of 2023, and once again when the committee was reconstituted in the fall of 2023 along with co‑chair of the House, Member of Parliament René Arseneault. Our colleagues Senator Dalphond, Senator Kutcher, Senator Mégie and Senator Wallin also served on the committee along with members of Parliament representing all parties.

The most recent Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying heard from 21 witnesses, which included legal and medical experts, practitioners, representatives of professional associations, mental health organizations and regulators as well as representatives of Health Canada and the Department of Justice.

The committee heard from several witnesses to the effect that it is difficult if not impossible to accurately predict the long-term prognosis of a person with a mental disorder. But we also heard that, in practice, a person would need to have a long, documented history of failed treatment attempts in order to be found eligible for medical assistance in dying where a mental disorder is the sole underlying medical condition, or MAID MD-SUMC.

The committee also heard that many psychiatrists do not support the practice of MAID MD-SUMC. Some witnesses expressed concerns regarding the potential impacts of MAID MD-SUMC on vulnerable groups, women, Indigenous people, people with disabilities and people living in poverty. The committee also heard differing views as to whether there is an adequate number of trained practitioners — psychiatrists in particular — to safely and adequately provide MAID MD‑SUMC.

On January 29, the final report was tabled in the House of Commons and backdoor tabled in the Senate. The report concluded that the medical system in Canada is not yet prepared for medical assistance in dying where mental disorder is the sole underlying medical condition.

The committee recommended:

That MAID MD-SUMC should not be made available in Canada until the Minister of Health and the Minister of Justice are satisfied, based on recommendations from their respective departments and in consultation with their provincial and territorial counterparts and with Indigenous Peoples, that it can be safely and adequately provided; and

That one year prior to the date on which it is anticipated that the law will permit MAID MD-SUMC, pursuant to subparagraph (a), the House of Commons and the Senate re‑establish the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance In Dying in order to verify the degree of preparedness attained for a safe and adequate application of MAID MD‑SUMC.

We all know that on February 1 Minister Mark Holland tabled Bill C-62, which gives a three-year extension for mental illness as a sole underlying condition for MAID, and here we are today debating this very bill at second reading.

During my technical briefing with the officials, I asked about the importance of the letter which was reported on January 30 of this year that the health and mental health ministers from all three territories — along with quite a few of the provinces, and those that were ready, still signed on to the letter — which asked for a delay because they were not ready. I asked the officials what the importance of that letter was and why it would have weighed into the decision for the minister to table Bill C-62.

I was told that Health Canada has a federal-provincial-territorial administrative committee on MAID specifically to work with the provincial and territorial counterparts to get a handle on the state of readiness, that they meet quite frequently and, therefore, because the provinces and territories are responsible for the readiness — undertaking training — that their state of readiness as stated in the letter was very important to the minister in his decision to table Bill C-62.

Other important considerations that have led us to where we are today go back to 2022 when the Association of Chairs of Psychiatry in Canada called for delaying the MAID expansion, citing a lack of public education on suicide prevention as well as an agreed-upon definition of irremediability.

In February of 2023, 30 legal experts co-signed a letter addressed to Prime Minister Trudeau and his cabinet that called for the government to order a suspension and review — not just a delay — of further expansion of MAID. In June of 2023, Quebec amended an assisted dying law, the Act Respecting End-of-Life Care, to prohibit requests for MAID based on a mental disorder other than a neurocognitive disorder.

There is quite a history of concern that has been expressed by the experts, and at committee we also heard differing opinions, which made us pause about the state of readiness.

Once again, we find ourselves in a position where the government must correct their fervour to implement their expansionist agenda for MAID. Bill C-62 is an attempt to fix the problems they created with their rushed approach to Canada’s MAID regime, but this is merely a short-term solution. I believe that as quite a few of the provinces and territories have requested, an indefinite pause on this critical expansion is what is needed. A three-year pause is merely a short-term solution.

As I stated in my second reading speech for Bill C-39, medical assistance in dying has been and remains one of the most complex and deeply personal issues for individuals and families across our country. There is a wide range of opinions in this chamber on what the appropriate parameters and safeguards should be as we continue to grapple with these questions in the development of our MAID regime.

I voted for the first Bill C-14 to enact a MAID regime because I thought that we needed a regime, but it was in Bill C-7 when there was an expansion to include offering MAID to those suffering from a mental disorder as a sole underlying condition that I voted against the bill.

I believe we have gone too far with the proposed expansion to include those with mental illness as a sole underlying condition. The lives of Canadians battling mental illness are not disposable. I think the introduction of Bill C-39 and now Bill C-62, which extends the exclusion of eligibility for receiving medical assistance in dying to circumstances where the sole underlying medical condition identified in support of the request for MAID is mental illness until March 17, 2027, is evidence that we have moved too far, too quickly, and it is an attempt to put a pause on a policy we should be repealing altogether.

However, colleagues, though this bill is only enacting a three‑year pause, I will reluctantly support Bill C-62 because, without it, MAID for those with a mental illness as a sole underlying condition will become law on March 17 of this year, and we know we will need more time. Thank you.

Hon. Patti LaBoucane-Benson (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, with leave of the Senate and notwithstanding rule 5-13(2), I move:

That the Senate do now adjourn.