On July 26, the Canadian Ministers of Health highlighted their progress in reaction to the recommendations of the Expert Panel on MAID and Mental Illness, which were tabled on May 13.
Announced actions of the Government
- Canada is about to announce $3.3 million in funding to the Canadian Association of MAID Assessors and Practitioners (CAMAP) to develop and implement a national, fully accredited MAID curriculum that will provide high quality MAID training to health care practitioners across Canada.
- Canada is currently amending the 2018 Regulations for the Monitoring of MAID to align with the recent changes to the Criminal Code (former Bill C-7) and to improve reporting to Canadians.
- Finally, Budget 2021 provided $2.6 million per year ongoing to ensure MAID is implemented in a consistent and safe manner.
Recommendations of the Expert Panel
The report set out 19 recommendations for establishing a MAID regime that addresses situations regarding incurability, irreversibility, individual capacity, suicidality and the impact of structural vulnerabilities (structural vulnerabilities being the effects of interactions between a person’s sex, gender, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, sexuality, or institutional location, with one’s position in society).
The Expert Panel also concluded that many of these concerns are neither unique to requests for MAID from persons with a mental disorder, nor applicable to every requestor who has a mental disorder. In the view of the Expert Panel, their recommendations should apply to any case where similar concerns may arise, irrespective of the requester’s diagnosis. In keeping with their mandate, the Expert Panel has paid particular attention to these concerns in the context of mental disorders.
Canada