The Canadian government has put on hold its plans to allow people with mental ill health to commit assisted suicide, following international and domestic criticism.
Canada, which has a lenient approach to assisted suicide and euthanasia, had been debating proposals to liberalise the law to help those with mental health problems kill themselves.
It has now put these plans on hold while it takes further evidence, with some highly qualified critics and opposition party spokespeople claiming the proposed rules would breach laws that protect people with disabilities.
Michael Cooper, Canada’s Shadow Minister for Democratic Reform, told reporters, ‘Literal life-or-death legislation deserves thorough review and consultation to ensure the most vulnerable people are protected.’
As reported in ET in September last year, Professor Tom Koch of the University of British Columbia, Canada, had warned that the law had been creeping in scope and its impact has been made ‘clearly evident’ in the country.
