By Maria Cheng
OTTAWA, Oct 27 (Reuters) – The Canadian government will introduce a new bill on Tuesday to allow people to request being euthanized at a later date when they have lost the mental capacity to make that decision, in a potential further expansion of one of the world’s most liberal assisted dying programs.
• Justice Minister Sean Fraser said the new legislation will allow adults to consent to being euthanized in advance “so their wishes could be respected if they are diagnosed with an incurable illness that could take away the ability to make this decision.”
• Fraser said the government would work with provinces and territories on implementation, with “rigorous safeguards to protect people and ensure the decision remains voluntary and free from external pressure.”
• Making an advance request will not mean euthanasia is automatically provided later, the government said. New safeguards will be introduced and people will have to be experiencing “intolerable suffering” at the time when they are killed.
• Canada first legalized euthanasia in 2016 for people who were terminally ill and broadened its law in 2021 to allow people with incurable but not terminal conditions to seek death.
• If the bill passes, provinces and territories will still have to decide whether to make advance requests available in their jurisdictions; it is already allowed in Quebec.
• Advance requests for euthanasia are also legal in countries including the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain.
• Krista Carr, CEO of Inclusion Canada, a disability rights charity, has raised concerns about advance requests for euthanasia, saying that a person consenting to their death “is the most basic protection a person has” and that “Parliament should not take it away.”
(Reporting by Maria Cheng; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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