Legislative Summary of Federal Bill on Medical Assistance in Dying

The Library of Parliament has published a Legislative Summary of Bill C-7: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying):

"Bill C-7, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying) was introduced in the House of Commons by the Minister of Justice on 24 February 2020 and received first reading that same day. With the prorogation of the first session of the 43rd Parliament, that bill died on the Order Paper, but it was reintroduced in identical form and with the same number, C-7, on 5 October 2020."

"The bill includes the federal response to the September 2019 Superior Court of Quebec decision in Truchon c. Procureur général du Canada, which related to the federal Criminal Code (the Code) provisions on medical assistance in dying (MAID) and Quebec's Act respecting end-of-life care. That decision declared that the Code requirement that a person could be eligible for MAID only if natural death was 'reasonably foreseeable' was contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms."

"The amendments to the Code that are proposed in Bill C-7 also address some issues that have been raised since the Code provisions on MAID were first introduced in 2016. The bill amends the Code provisions on MAID by establishing a separate set of procedural safeguards for individuals whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable and making some amendments to the safeguards that apply in the case of individuals whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable."

"The bill also amends the eligibility criteria by establishing that mental illness is not an illness, disease or disability for the purpose of determining eligibility for MAID."

"Following the tabling of the first Bill C-7, in the previous session of this Parliament, the Department of Justice presented a report on the results of consultations that had been held by the federal government in January and February 2020. Those consultations sought input from Canadians on issues relating to MAID, including whether MAID should be available to a person whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness."

It is possible to follow the progress of the bill through the Canadian Parliament on the LEGISinfo website.