A controversial law that would allow people with mental but not physical illness to obtain medical assistance in dying has been shelved by Canada’s government weeks before it was due to take effect.
Canada updated its law on medical assistance in dying (MAID) in 2021 to allow people with “grievous and irremediable” mental illness to seek death at the hands of a physician. The law was due to take effect in 2023, but before that deadline arrived the government postponed it for a year, to 17 March 2024.
It has now been delayed for a second time. Ministers said that a new date for implementation would be included in legislation enacting the pause. But, with an election looming next year and the government …