Doctor urges support for bill to halt euthanasia expansion in Canada

(LifeSiteNews) — A Montreal doctor called on the Liberal government under Prime Minister Mark Carney to support a private members’ bill that will stop a planned expansion of euthanasia to those with mental illness in Canada.

In a Monday press conference on Parliament Hill on Monday, members of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC), including Dr. Peter Blusanovics, who has treated many with mental illnesses, urged support of Conservative Private Members Bill C-218.

Blusanovics, who is a family doctor based in Montreal, said he spoke to be a voice to “provide a voice for our most vulnerable — those who have and are suffering from mental illness.”

“Bill C-218 needs to pass to put a stop to euthanasia for people with mental illness,” said the doctor, adding, “Basic needs are currently not being met in our health care system.”

“Without this bill, we are condoning a bypass towards suicide and blatantly admitting defeat. Mental illness needs to be properly identified and treated,” he said.

Blusanovics made clear that those who have a mental illness really do not want to die; they want their suffering to be lessened. However, because there is not much support medically for those with mental illness, many are in despair and that is why advocates want Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) to be expanded to this category. 

“I know that offering medical aid in dying provides no solution. Everyone deserves the right to be treated with dignity and humanity,” he said.

The expansion of euthanasia for the mentally ill is slated to become law in 2027 as a consequence of the passage of Bill C-7.

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis introduced Bill C-260, titled “An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying – protection against coercion),” which, if passed, would ban any person in government or other authority from proposing to someone that they consider euthanasia if the person did not ask for it.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, Canada’s Catholic bishops have said they “support” a Conservative bill before Parliament that would ban extending state-sponsored euthanasia to those with mental illness.

Bill C-218, as reported by LifeSiteNews, or “An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying [i.e., euthanasia]),” was introduced by Conservative Party MP Tamara Jansen and passed its first reading on June 20, 2025.

LifeSiteNews reported on Bill C-218, noting that Jansen, the bill’s sponsor, said that allowing “medical assistance in dying” for those with mental illness is “not healthcare, that’s not compassion, it’s abandonment.”

Euthanasia is the sixth-leading cause of death in Canada, but it was not listed in Statistics Canada’s top 10 leading causes of death from 2019 to 2022.

The Liberal government under Trudeau and current Prime Minister Mark Carney, however, has worked to expand euthanasia 13-fold since it was legalized in 2016. Canada now has the fastest-growing assisted-suicide program in the world. Meanwhile, Health Canada released a series of studies on advanced requests for assisted suicide.