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Abstract

The thesis examines the law of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) in Canada for people with disabilities and mental illness. It is divided into three substantial chapters along with introduction and conclusion. Chapter 2 navigates the development of MAiD eligibility criteria chronologically from pre-1993 era to the present day, 2026, including major landmark cases namely, Rodriguez v British Columbia (1993), Carter v Canada (2015), and Truchon c Canada (2019) along with the main legislative bills, namely, Bill C-14 (2016), Bill C-7 (2021), Bill C-39 (2023), Bill C-62 (2024), and Bill C-218 (2025). It navigates if and how the eligibility criteria infringe on the Charter rights, mainly Section 7 and Section 15 of people with disabilities and mental illness. Chapter 3 discusses the inconsistency of the principles of autonomy, capacity, dignity, and vulnerability in MAiD between able-bodied people and people with disabilities and mental illnesses. It then examines the four concerns mentioned in the Expert Panel Report on MAiD and Mental Illness, namely, incurability, capacity, suicidality, and structural vulnerability, from the lens of these four principles. The chapter also brings in comparative evidence from different jurisdictions to test the consistency and coherence of the concerns with principles. Chapter 4 provides a potential path forward named “advance directives” and discusses whether it can be a potential solution to bridge the gap and become an alternative method of seeking MAiD for people with disabilities and mental illness. The chapter discusses frameworks from different jurisdictions and recommends some suggestions for the implementation of advance directives framework in Canadian law. The thesis concluded that the exclusion and extra burden on people with disabilities and mental illness from MAiD infringes their Charter rights, their justifications provided in the Expert Panel Report fail against the principles of MAiD, and that advance directives can provide a way forward to a more inclusive approach of MAiD for people with disabilities and mental illnesses.