The federal government will introduce legislation aimed at delaying the eligibility expansion for medical assistance in dying (MAID) “as quickly as possible,” says Justice Minister David Lametti.
Canada’s laws dictating who can access MAID are currently set to expand on March 17 to include individuals whose only medical conditions are mental illnesses.
However, the Liberal government said in December that it would seek to delay the planned expansion due to concerns that proper safeguards were not yet in place that would prepare the health care system to handle it.
Lametti and Mental Health Minister Carolyn Bennett, who announced the government’s plan to delay the expansion on Dec. 15, did not previously give a timeline for when they would amend the related legislation….