e-2378 (Justice)

On October 5, 2020, the Government re-introduced Bill C-7, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying), to amend the provisions related to medical assistance in dying (MAID) in response to the Superior Court of Québec’s September 2019 Truchon decision.

Bill C-7 proposes to remove “reasonable foreseeability of natural death” (RFND) as an eligibility criterion in the Criminal Code. RFND would no longer apply as an eligibility criterion that could exclude persons from obtaining MAID, and would instead be used to determine which of two different sets of safeguards to apply to a particular MAID request.

Along with other amendments, consistent with the objectives of the petition, Bill C-7 would permit waiver of final consent for persons who are assessed and approved for MAID, whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable and who risk losing decision-making capacity, to make arrangements with their practitioner to receive MAID on a chosen date even if they lose decision-making capacity before that date. This amendment is intended to prevent eligible Canadians from deciding to end their life prematurely if they fear becoming unable to provide consent on their chosen day to receive MAID. Due to the complexity of issues such as advanced requests, we will be studying them during the comprehensive parliamentary review to look at all aspects, including safeguards, and engage in further discussion.