‘I Got Better’: Stop MAID for Mental Illness
We need your help right now to protect vulnerable Canadians
The most important message we can send to those struggling with mental health is that hope is always possible. The “I Got Better” campaign is about showing how the desire to end your life because of mental illness doesn’t have to be permanent. It’s possible for people to heal and to flourish, but not if we give up on them.
As a survivor of mental health struggles himself, Andrew is passionate about ensuring those struggling with metal health are given the supports and care needed rather than being offered MAiD.
The Right to Recover Act is a private member’s bill brought forward by Conservative MP Tamara Jansen and seconded by MP Andrew Lawton. If passed, this bill will amend the Criminal Code to permanently stop the scheduled 2027 expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAiD) solely for mental illness.
Send your stories or videos to Andrew.Lawton@parl.gc.ca or post them on social media using the hashtag #IGotBetter. Members of Parliament need to see how real people have been affected by mental illness to understand how important Bill C-218 is.
How We Got Here
When medical assistance in dying was first legalized in 2016, it was available only to adults with a “grievous and irremediable” physical medical condition and for whom natural death was “reasonably foreseeable.”
Following a Quebec court decision in 2019, the Liberal government passed Bill C-7, which removed the foreseeable death requirement. During the parliamentary proceedings on Bill C-7, the Senate passed an amendment removing the ban on MAiD for people with only a mental illness.
The amendment was highly controversial but ultimately was passed by the House of Commons in 2020, with an implementation date of March 2023. This date has been postponed twice and is now set to go into effect in March of 2027.
If passed, Bill C-218 will stop this expansion permanently.
How to Help
To become law, Bill C-218 needs support from all parties. A previous version of the bill fell short by only a few votes. Reach out to your member of Parliament and urge them to support the right to recover.
Share your own stories of hope and recovery as part of the “I Got Better” campaign by emailing them to Andrew.Lawton@parl.gc.ca or posting them to social media with the #IGotBetter hashtag.
Pledge your support for Bill C-218 here