Canada Rules Out Assisted Suicide for Mental Illness Alone

Canada's justice minister announced on Wednesday that medically assisted suicide will not be permitted for individuals whose sole underlying condition is mental illness. The decision aims to end a long-running national debate over one of the country's most divisive healthcare policies. Assisted dying was first legalised in Canada in 2016 for people nearing the end of life. In 2021, eligibility was broadened to cover those with serious and incurable illnesses, even when death was not considered reasonably foreseeable. A planned expansion that would have allowed assisted death regardless of the nature of the condition was originally set for 2024, but the government postponed it by three years, citing the need to ensure the already strained mental health system could cope. The latest move effectively halts that expansion for people suffering only from mental illness.