March 26, 2025

For immediate release from the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) Canada 

March 26, 2025 

OTTAWA, ON –  

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities released its report on Canada on March 21. The Committee recommends that Canada repeal Track 2 Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) and refuse to expand MAiD any further. Track 2 MAiD is euthanasia for persons whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable, who do not have a terminal condition. It was first permitted in 2021, when Parliament passed the Liberal government’s Bill C-7. 

“Over the past four years, the federal government has continued its reckless expansion of Medical Assistance in Dying” said Daniel Zekveld, policy analyst with ARPA Canada.  

In 2023, just two years after Bill C-7 passed, over 600 Canadians were euthanized under Track 2. Nearly 60% of them were women.  

On top of that, although the Trudeau government delayed the expansion of MAiD to those with mental illness as their sole underlying condition, that expansion is scheduled to take place in 2027. The UN Committee has called on the government of Canada to repeal this expansion as well before it goes into effect. 

“At the very least, Canada’s next Prime Minister will need to address the mental illness expansion. Rather than promoting state-sponsored suicide, a new government must reject and repeal any further expansion of euthanasia,” Zekveld said.  

But our next federal government should also go further than that, argues Zekveld. “Allowing MAiD for Canadians who are not dying devalues their lives and implies that they are dispensable. Offering euthanasia as a ‘solution’ for disability or chronic illness reduces incentives to improve treatments and supports.”  

ARPA Canada supports all the Committee’s recommendations on MAiD in its report and calls on federal party leaders to commit to implementing them.  

ARPA Canada actively opposed the Trudeau government’s rapid expansion of euthanasia into one of the most permissive euthanasia regimes in the world. Many others, including disability rights groups, have been calling on the government to reject euthanasia for people with disabilities whose death is not ‘reasonably foreseeable.’  

As election day approaches, will party leaders promise to protect Canadians who are not dying from MAiD?   

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The Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) Canada has a long history of involvement with euthanasia laws and policy in Canada. ARPA was granted intervenor standing at the Supreme Court of Canada in the Carter case in 2016. They have also provided a variety of policy reports, research, and analysis on the topic. In 2020, ARPA launched the Care Not Kill campaign, a national grassroots initiative that educates Canadians on the harms of euthanasia as well as equipping people to engage respectfully on this sensitive topic. 

For further comment or interviews, please contact Daniel Zekveld at [email protected] or 1-866-691-2272.

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