Claire Brosseau has travelled the world doing stand-up comedy and acting in television shows, films and plays. She has also been struggling with debilitating mental illness from a young age, and has been treated by psychiatrists in four major North American cities over three decades. The 49-year-old Toronto woman wants to die by medically assisted dying, known as MAID in Canada, but current law excludes those whose sole condition is mental illness.
Brosseau has tried nearly every treatment available, she said, including behavioural therapy, medication and electric shocks to the brain. Nothing has worked, she said. She describes herself as "functionally terminal" and is enrolled in a psychiatric care programme at a local hospital designed for people with severe and persistent mental illness who have exhausted all treatment options. "There's nothing left to try, and I'm at the end of my life," she told the BBC. She has asked an Ontario court to exempt her from current law and grant her access to medically assisted dying.
Canada has been planning to expand MAID to people with severe, treatment-resistant mental illness but has delayed doing so twice — most recently to next year — over concerns the healthcare system is not prepared. Ottawa is now weighing whether to move forward at all. In the meantime, Brosseau said her illness is worsening and she cannot afford to wait.
What the Left Is Saying
Brosseau argues that denying assisted dying to psychiatric patients while allowing it for physical illnesses amounts to discrimination. "If I get cancer tomorrow, I can refuse treatment and be eligible for MAID," she said. She contends that mental illnesses are not treated with the same legitimacy as physical conditions. Her legal case argues that current laws are exclusionary to those with mental illness and therefore unconstitutional.
Advocates who support expanding MAID say patients with severe psychiatric conditions deserve the same end-of-life options available to those with terminal physical diseases. They argue that decades of failed treatments demonstrate that some mental illnesses can be irremediable, just like cancers or degenerative diseases. "I'm not campaigning for death. I'm campaigning to be seen as not a subsection of human," Brosseau said.
Dr. Sisco Van Veen, a Dutch psychiatrist who supports the practice, told Canadian lawmakers that MAID offers "mercy" for those whose suffering can be "immense or unbearable." Some advocates point to Netherlands data showing psychiatric assisted dying remains rare — accounting for about 2 percent of all such deaths — as evidence that safeguards can work.
What the Right Is Saying
Dr. Sonu Gaind, a former chief of psychiatry at a major Toronto hospital, told a parliamentary committee reviewing MAID expansion that "none of those issues have been resolved" since Canada decided to pause its expansion. "Instead, we have even more evidence showing we are not ready to provide MAID for mental illness," he said.
Disability advocacy groups have raised concerns about the direction of Canada's assisted dying programme. Krista Carr, president of Inclusion Canada, testified before the committee urging lawmakers not only to reject expanding MAID to mental illness but to limit it once again solely to people with terminal illness. "We are investing in ending people's lives" rather than offering better quality of life through housing, healthcare and disability supports, she said.
Some medical experts argue that mental illnesses are not yet well understood enough to determine whether a patient is expressing suicidal ideation or has an incurable condition. Dr. Jim van Os, another Dutch psychiatrist, warned Canadian lawmakers about what he described as a "suicide contagion effect" from expanding assisted dying to psychiatric patients — suggesting broader access could normalize the option in ways that harm vulnerable people.
What the Numbers Show
In Canada, approximately 96 percent of MAID requests granted in 2024 were for people whose death was foreseeable — mostly terminal cancer patients. The remaining 4 percent were patients whose death was not imminent but who had a "grievous and irremediable medical condition."
Canada extended assisted dying five years ago to patients who were not terminally ill after two people with disabilities mounted a legal battle for access. That expansion remains controversial.
In the Netherlands, where assisted dying is available for those suffering solely from mental illness, psychiatric cases account for roughly 2 percent of all assisted deaths — but the absolute numbers have grown substantially. Approved psychiatric MAID cases rose from two in 2010 to 219 in 2024, according to data cited in committee testimony.
Polls suggest a majority of Canadians support access to medically assisted death generally, though opinion polling specifically on mental illness access has been more divided.
The Bottom Line
Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters last week that he is waiting for the parliamentary committee's report before deciding on next steps. "I like to take informed positions," he said. The joint Senate and House committee could present its recommendations as late as October.
Brosseau's legal challenge remains pending in Ontario court. She has criticized the parliamentary review process, saying she requested to testify multiple times but was refused. She noted that the co-chairs of the committee — Liberal MP Marcus Powlowski and Conservative Senator Yonah Martin — have both publicly voiced opposition to expanding MAID.
The outcome will affect a population that advocates say has been overlooked: people with severe, treatment-resistant mental illness who feel they have exhausted all options. Opponents worry about premature deaths among patients whose conditions might improve with different treatments or support systems. Canada is one of a handful of countries where assisted dying is legal for both terminally ill and non-terminally ill patients with serious irreversible conditions.