‘We have to maintain an open mind’: Justice minister won’t ‘close the door’ on any MAID policy

Justice Minister Sean Fraser speaks about medical assistance in dying being extended to people with a sole underlying condition of mental illness.

Justice Minister and Attorney General Sean Fraser says he’s not ruling anything out ahead of a report set to be tabled Wednesday on whether to delay expanding medical assistance in dying to people whose sole condition is mental illness.

“I think my own view is — informed by personal circumstances — is that we have to maintain an open mind for experiences that may not be widespread,” an emotional Fraser said in an interview on CTV Power Play with Vassy Kapelos on Tuesday, when asked his personal view on extending MAID.

“There are friends of mine who have watched their parents live through horribly painful circumstances at the end of their life, who found themselves to develop the same condition and didn’t want to live through the same experience,” Fraser added, with tears in his eyes.

“We have to realize that there are deeply felt, personal motivations behind these experiences, but we also have to make sure that as legislators, we understand how a rule may apply to different people in different ways,” Fraser also said. “So, my own view is that we need to continuously consider the perspectives that Canadians collectively hold, with a real desire to understand the experiences that individuals go through during what is, by definition, the most traumatic thing a person will experience.”

Fraser said the conversations he’s had with people in his life “will weigh heavily” on him, as the federal government decides how to proceed with a possible MAID expansion to cover people whose sole underlying condition is mental illness.

“These are difficult conversations, but I find the things that are worth doing are always difficult,” Fraser told Kapelos.

Certain Canadians have had access to MAID since 2016, with amendments made to the eligibility criteria in 2021. Further expansion of MAID to include mental illness as the sole factor, however, has been highly controversial, and in 2024, the federal government under former prime minister Justin Trudeau announced it was delaying the move until 2027, after the next federal election.

With the expansion set to come into effect in March next year, a special joint parliamentary committee has taken up the work of studying the issue, hearing from more than three dozen witnesses in the last year, with a report and recommendation on whether to delay it further to be tabled Wednesday.

The Globe and Mail reported last month based on sources that the federal government expects the committee will recommend a pause on the expansion.

Speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill Tuesday, Fraser said he will take time over the summer to review the report’s conclusions. Prime Minister Mark Carney said the same, also telling reporters on Parliament Hill last month that he’s waiting on the report before making any decisions.

“I’m not going to close the door on any possible policy decision,” Fraser told Kapelos, when asked whether the federal government is open to blunting the MAID extension through legislation.

“I’ve not had the opportunity to review the report,” he said. “I’m going to wait until it’s tabled. I want to make sure that I have the benefit not only of the recommendations, but the evidence that underpinned those recommendations.”

You can watch Justice Minister and Attorney General Sean Fraser’s comments on the extension of MAID for people whose sole condition is mental illness in the video player at the top of this article.