FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 18, 2026
The province of Alberta is showing national leadership by introducing legislation to better protect Albertans through strengthened safeguards for assisted dying (MAiD).
Cardus’ research shows that after nearly ten years of MAiD’s legalization, the existing safeguards have not provided rigorous scrutiny of MAiD requests and resulted in Canada having the fastest-growing euthanasia and assisted suicide program in the world and the second-highest rate of MAID deaths as a percentage of total deaths. In 2024, five percent of total deaths in Canada were MAID deaths.
Alberta’s proposed legislation takes proactive steps to protect vulnerable Albertans against further expansions of MAiD, including the impending federal expansion of MAiD for mental illness as a sole underlying condition in March 2027. Limiting MAiD to those whose death is reasonably foreseeable within twelve months also aligns Alberta with other international jurisdictions, including Australian states, US states, and New Zealand, where patients must have a terminal condition of usually six months to receive an assisted death.
Enhanced procedural safeguards for Track 1 MAiD, preventing practitioners from raising MAiD unsolicited, and reducing the risk of “doctor shopping” outside of the province are all positive measures to ensure MAiD is treated as a last resort.
We support the adoption of these enhanced protections for Albertans and urge all legislators to work collaboratively to implement them. This legislation, alongside the provision of timely and high-quality disability supports, mental health care, and palliative care, will meaningfully improve the ability of Albertans to live and die well.
– Rebecca Vachon, PhD, Program Director for Cardus Health
For further information, see the following:
- Disability and MAiD: A Discussion Paper of Public Opinion Polling
- Policy Brief: The Risks of Advance Requests for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD)
- In Contrast to Carter: Assisted Dying’s Impact on Canadians with Disabilities
- From Exceptional to Routine: The Rise of Euthanasia in Canada
- The State of Pediatric Palliative Care in Canada
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Cardus is a non-partisan think tank dedicated to clarifying and strengthening, through research and dialogue, the ways in which society’s institutions can work together for the common good.