Callers open up about their concerns when it comes to MAiD for mental illness

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explore Vancouver and BC. Vancouver, FWC 26.ca slash no before you go. This is a CBC podcast. Good afternoon. I'm Amanda Pfeffer. This is the province's open

line show Ontario today. This hour show focuses on medical assistance in dying or made and mental illness. Please take care while listening. We have some breaking news out of Ottawa tonight. A parliamentary committee is recommending the federal government indefinitely pause the expansion of

medical assistance and dying or made for people whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness. The committee will recommend it should be paused indefinitely on the grounds that the conditions for safe and equitable implementation cannot presently be met.

The expansion of MADE for the sole reason of mental illness has hit a roadblock. The parliamentary committee has concluded Canada is not ready. Are they right? What do you know about it?

1-888-817-8995. As we've stated in our recommendations, we recommended an indefinite pause on allowing MADE for mental illness. MADE has been available in Canada for 10 years.

followed a Supreme Court decision allowing assistance in dying for those approaching natural deaths. In 2021 the law was expanded to those suffering with incurable conditions but not approaching death. It's called track 2. But Canada has twice delayed further expansion to people suffering with a sole diagnosis of mental illness. This joint parliamentary

committee was tasked to evaluate the evidence but there is disappointment with the recommendations from longtime advocates. They've made it very clear what they think of people like me. Message received.

49-year-old Claire Elise Brosseau has been advocating for access to maid for mental illness. She says the committee made their recommendations excluding the voices for advocates for expansion

like herself. It's just not right. I'm not sure why we don't have people rights for body autonomy.

The increasing evidence has shown us that we are not able to expand made to soul mental illness safely. Psychiatrist Sonu Ghan appeared before the committee

arguing for a pause on expansion. He is one of our guests this hour and we want to hear from you. It's now up to federal government to decide the future

of expanding made to those suffering mental illness alone. The committee reports is Canada's system protecting people with mental illness is not ready to introduce a track for access

to made safely. What do you know about that system here in Ontario? 1-888-817-8995. And again, now that this parliamentary committee has released its recommendation, it is now up to the federal government to decide the fate of whether there is going to be an expansion of medical assistance and dying for people based solely on mental illness.

The spokesperson for the Justice Minister, Sean Fraser's office, put out a statement, and it says, we want to thank the committee for their comprehensive study on this issue. Made is a deeply personal, complex choice that touches people at different times in their lives, and our government is committed to getting this right.

The committee hears from dozens of witnesses and receives briefs from across the country. evidence deserves our full consideration. We will take the time to review the report as well as the evidence that supports the recommendation in full before determining the path. It is worth mentioning as well that this committee also had a minority report, if we can call it that, a dissenting

report from a handful of MPs. And in that report they were disappointed with the exclusion of some voices from this committee and felt that it was a recommendation made without missing some of the views that were necessary in the formulation of their decision. Again, our number is 1-888-817-8995. The recommendation says

that Canada isn't ready to expand medical assistance and dying to those suffering from mental illness. It's not saying that Canadians aren't ready, it's saying that the system aimed at protecting Canadians with mental health, our mental illness, are not adequately protected as we introduce a system of

made. And that's again the conclusion of this parliamentary committee. Do you agree? Tell us what you know about whether the committee is making the right call. Again, our number 18888178995. Dr. Sanu Gand is our guest this hour. He's a professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is the

former Chief of Psychiatry at Sunnybrook Health and Humber River Hospitals. His roles included chair of the MADE team at Humber. Dr. Ghand is also co-author of a publication called Unraveling MADE in Canada, and he made his own submission to the Parliamentary Committee examining the expansion of made welcome to

Ontario today. Thank you Amanda and thank you for bringing this really complex and challenging discussion to your listeners. I want to just to

set the record straight for our audience. What is has been your own stance your own submission regarding the expansion of made.

I'll start by saying that. I think my view is actually what most and when they're aware of all of the actual information and evidence.

So my own stance is that I'm not a conscientious objector. If I had been, I would never have chaired my former hospital's made team. So I see that we brought in our made laws initially

to help compassionately relieve end-of-life suffering and help people avoid a painful death. I think most Canadians support that. what at the same time I've come to see,

and this is based on evidence, it's not based on any ideology. I don't have any ideological objection to it. But what I have come to see is that

as we have expanded our made laws beyond what when we provide made to end-of-life situations, all sorts of other life suffering