Canada has drawn worldwide attention for their increasingly widespread allowance and usage of “medical assistance in dying,” also known as MAID or assisted suicide.
But Alberta, the most conservative province in the country, is considering a bill to ensure federal laws in Canada do not expand to the mentally ill.
Bill 18, introduced last month, is entitled the “Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act,” according to a webpage from the government of Alberta.
The legislation would “set out Alberta’s regulatory framework for MAID and will provincially address gaps in the current federal system where there is a lack of protection for vulnerable individuals.”
In particular, those with a mental illness would be protected “should the federal expansion come into effect in 2027,” a move which the province opposes.
Bill 18 would “limit MAID eligibility in Alberta to individuals 18 and over with capacity to make their own health care decisions whose natural death has been determined by a physician or nurse practitioner as being reasonably foreseeable.”
That includes all of “Track 1 MAID,” under which patients are deemed likely to die within 12 months.
The legislation would meanwhile ban MAID for anyone under 18 years old, for advance requests, for those without the ability to make their own health decisions, and for “persons whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness.”
As noted in a report from Blaze Media, the effort comes as assisted suicide levels reach disturbing proportions in Canada.
There have been 76,000 Canadians killed through assisted suicide from its first year through the end of 2024.
In 2024 alone, nearly 16,500 people were euthanized — marking more than 5 percent of all deaths in Canada for the year.
Alberta had a slightly lower 4.6 percent level.
The Canadian government now allows assisted suicide for reasons like anxiety, depression, PTSD, economic hardship, and autism, according to Blaze Media.
Alberta Attorney General Mickey Amery recently defended Bill 18 before the Alberta Legislature, noting that Canada’s usage of euthanasia is rapidly outpacing the rest of the world.
“Canada has the fastest growing death rates in the world when it comes to MAID. Far from being an option of last resort, MAID is now the fifth leading cause of death in Canada,” he warned.
“The country is currently projected to reach its 100,000th death by MAID in June, becoming the first nation in the modern era to measure its total assisted deaths in the six figures, more than the totals of any other jurisdiction with some form of legal, doctor-assisted death,” he added.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith agreed that more oversight is needed to protect the vulnerable.
“Those struggling with severe mental health challenges need treatment, compassion and support, not a path to end their life at what may be their lowest moment,” she said.
“In Alberta, a patient whose sole underlying condition is mental illness will not be eligible for MAID.”
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