Disability rights groups challenges Canada’s assisted dying law in court News
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Disability rights groups challenges Canada’s assisted dying law in court

Disability rights groups launched a Charter challenge Wednesday against Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAiD) provisions, seeking a court declaration that portions of the Canada Criminal Code are unconstitutional, and thus of no force and effect.

The legal challenge is grounded under sections 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 15 guarantees equal protection and benefit of the law without discrimination, while section 7 guarantees a right to life, liberty, or security of the person.

The plaintiffs – a coalition that inlcudes Inclusion Canada, Indigenous Disability Canada, Council of Canadians with Disabilities, DisAbled Women’s Network Canada, and two individuals – argue that MAiD’s 2021 eligibility expansion violates fundamental rights of persons with disabilities. The 2021 amendment allowed disabled individuals whose death was not reasonably foreseeable to access MAiD, which the plaintiffs claim “increases the risk that persons with a disability will be induced to end their lives as a response to suffering.”

The section 15 claim argues that MAiD systemically discriminates against persons with disabilities because it offers death as a viable and accessible medical treatment specifically to disabled individuals whose death is not reasonably foreseeable. This is argued to increase the risk that disabled persons will be more likely to seek death instead of getting the necessary social and medical supports to help them live; proposing death as a solution to systemic disadvantage. The notice of application contrasts this difference with non-disabled individuals who may get offered medical treatment or management options for their conditions, but not death.

The section 7 claim builds on the alleged systemic discrimination faced by persons with disabilities, arguing that the increased risk of premature death violates an individual’s right to life and security of the person.

In their press release announcing their legal challenge, Krista Carr, Executive Vice-President of Inclusion Canada stated:

People are dying. We are witnessing an alarming trend where people with disabilities are seeking assisted suicide due to social deprivation, poverty, and lack of essential supports[.] [T]his law also sends a devastating message that life with a disability is a fate worse than death, undermining decades of work toward equity and inclusion. It’s time to put an end to helping people with disabilities commit suicide and start supporting them to live.

This latest challenge is not the first against MAiD, which has gone through several iterations. Another major criticism is the goal of broadening eligibility to individuals with mental illness as their sole underlying medical condition. The Government of Canada recently extended a delay in implementing this change to allow further review. The earliest date of the mental health implementation is now March 17, 2027.

Prior to 2016, physician assisted suicide was illegal in Canada. This changed after Carter v Canada in 2015, where the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled that prohibiting physician-assisted death for individuals suffering from a grievous and irremediable medical condition was a violation of the section 7 of the Charter. In response, Parliament legalized MAiD in 2016 for eligible adults.

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