Canada will not allow assisted suicide for those with only mental illness

MONTREAL — Canada will not allow medically assisted suicide for people whose only condition is mental illness, the justice minister said Wednesday, seeking to close debate on one of the country's most controversial healthcare issues. Canada legalized assisted dying for those at the end of life in 2016. The right was extended to those suffering from serious and incurable illnesses in 2021, even if death was not "reasonably foreseeable." Initially, Canada was to allow assisted death regardless of condition by 2024, but that date was pushed back three years, with the government saying it wanted to make sure that the already overwhelmed mental health system was ready. Without government action, people exclusively suffering from a mental illness would have had access to assisted suicide in March, when the exclusion was set to expire. But Justice Minister Sean Fraser told reporters on Wednesday that Canada's Liberal government plans to pass legislation that will prohibit assisted suicide for people whose only underlying medical condition is mental illness. "Canada has made a decision not to mo