Claire Elyse Brosseau has asked an Ontario court for an urgent MAID exemption while Canada’s mental illness exclusion remains in place.
A Toronto woman who says she has endured decades of severe mental illness is asking Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice for an urgent exemption from Canada’s medical assistance in dying law, which still excludes people whose only underlying conditions are mental disorders.
Claire Elyse Brosseau, 49, appeared outside the Toronto courthouse Monday with her lawyer and said she is seeking a court order that would allow a doctor to provide MAID despite the current federal exclusion. The request comes as Canada’s planned expansion of MAID eligibility for people suffering solely from mental disorders has been delayed until March 2027.
Brosseau has said she has diagnoses including bipolar 1 disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and disordered eating, and that multiple treatments over roughly 30 years have brought little or no relief. She said Monday she filed the urgent motion because she has lost hope and remains in a state of “unrelenting suffering.”
“I should not have to do this,” Brosseau said, according to CBC News. “The government should do the right thing and lift the exclusion that denies me the relief to my suffering that I am desperate for.”
Under current federal law, MAID is available to eligible adults with a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability who are in an advanced state of decline and experiencing intolerable suffering that cannot be relieved. The law has two tracks depending on whether a person’s natural death is reasonably foreseeable, but it does not currently allow access when a mental illness is the sole underlying medical condition.
Brosseau and Dying With Dignity Canada are already challenging the exclusion as unconstitutional. Her lawyer, Michael Fenrick, said federal lawyers had been expected to respond to that challenge by the end of April but missed the deadline, leaving the case unable to move ahead. CBC News reported that the federal Department of Justice had not responded to a request for comment by publication.
The urgent motion asks for a temporary order exempting both Brosseau and a physician from the current law so she can receive MAID. Fenrick said the motion was submitted Monday and could be heard by a judge in the next few months at the earliest. He described it as the first request of its kind in Canada by someone with a mental disorder seeking an exemption from MAID legislation.
The broader issue remains deeply contested. Supporters of expanding eligibility argue the exclusion denies equal access and reflects stigma against psychiatric patients. Opponents say mental illness can be difficult to assess for incurability and raise concerns about consent and distinguishing MAID requests from suicidality.
A federal special joint committee on medical assistance in dying is expected to complete witness hearings before preparing advice to the government on eligibility for people in circumstances such as Brosseau’s.
Comments (0)