FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 26, 2025
The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) is right to call for Canada to roll back its expansion of euthanasia, or ‘medical assistance in dying’ (MAiD). This also reinforces the fact that MAiD is an election issue in Canada on which every federal political party leader should take a clear stand.
We would echo the Committee’s concerns that Track 2 MAiD in Canada is ‘based on negative, ableist perceptions of the quality and value of the life of persons with disabilities,’ as well as the Committee’s concerns about disproportionate effects of Track 2 MAiD on marginalized Canadians. The Committee rightly notes that MAiD lacks federal oversight and that it been expanded in Canada without enough consultation with Indigenous communities or adequate protections and supports for people living with disabilities.
We continue to be grateful for Canadian disability advocates who not only presented evidence to the UNCRPD, but have been actively raising their concerns on this issue since before the introduction of MAiD and throughout its expansion. This includes the coalition of groups and individual plaintiffs who undertook a Charter challenge in September 2024 against Track 2 MAiD.
Whichever party forms the next federal government should listen to the UNCRPD and Canadian disability advocates and repeal Track 2 MAiD, reverse the upcoming expansion of MAiD for mental illness, and reject further expansion of advance MAiD requests and MAiD for mature minors. Governments at all levels also need to address the need for effective monitoring and assuring compliance with MAiD guardrails while prioritizing provision of care in addressing the health and wellbeing of Canadians, especially those living with disabilities.”
- Rebecca Vachon, PhD, Health Program Director at Cardus
For further information, see the following:
- From Exceptional to Routine: The Rise of Euthanasia in Canada
- Policy Brief: The Risks of Advance Requests for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD)
- The State of Pediatric Palliative Care in Canada
- 62% of Canadians Fear the Vulnerable Might Feel Forced into MAiD
MEDIA INQUIRIES
Daniel Proussalidis
Cardus – Director of Communications
613-241-4500 x508
media@cardus.ca
Cardus – Imagination toward a thriving society
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.