Feds agree mentally ill should have access to assistance in dying

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has agreed with the Senate that Canadians suffering solely from grievous and irremediable mental illnesses should be entitled to receive medical assistance in dying — but not for another two years.

The two-year interlude is six months longer than what was proposed by senators.

It is one of a number of changes to Bill C-7 proposed by the government in response to amendments approved last week by the Senate.

The government has rejected another Senate amendment that would have allowed people who fear being diagnosed with dementia or other competence-eroding conditions to make advance requests for an assisted death.

It has also rejected one other amendment and modified two others in a motion that was debated Tuesday in the House of Commons.

“I believe that C-7 is one important and prudent step in ensuring greater respect for the autonomy of a broader category of Canadians who are suffering intolerably,” Justice Minister David Lametti told the Commons, expressing hope that the Senate will accept the government’s “reasonable” proposals.

Bloc Québécois MP Luc Thériault said his party will support the minority Liberal government’s response, assuring it will pass.

While the Bloc would have liked to go further to expand access to assisted dying, he said the bill does make some important progress on that front.

“It is very important to keep moving forward,” Thériault told the Commons.

Once approved by the Commons, the bill will go back to the Senate, where senators will have to decide whether to accept the verdict of the elected chamber or dig in their heels.

Bill C-7 would expand access to assisted dying to intolerably suffering individuals who are not approaching the natural end of their lives, bringing the law into compliance with a 2019 Quebec Superior Court ruling.

As originally drafted, the bill would have imposed a blanket ban on assisted dying for people suffering solely from mental illnesses.

The City of Toronto says 29 people living at a shelter have tested positive for an unidentified COVID-19 variant. The city says Toronto Public Health declared an outbreak at Maxwell Meighen on Feb. 3. It says Public Health Ontario is sequencing the samples to identify the COVID-19 variant. The city says there are currently 121 people staying at the shelter. There are nine Toronto shelters with COVID-19 outbreaks with 149 people testing positive.