CLC calls on Parliament to split Bill C-41
OTTAWA – Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) calls on Parliament to split Bill C-41 and reject its provisions permitting euthanasia of persons who cannot consent at the time of death. The Government combined those provisions in one bill with a measure that would stop the expansion of euthanasia to those whose sole condition is a mental illness.
Justice Minister Sean Fraser tabled Bill C-41, the Medical Assistance in Dying Safeguards Act, on Tuesday, 27 October 2026. Under this bill, a person diagnosed with a disease such as Alzheimer's could sign a request years in advance. Once that person has lost capacity, a doctor or nurse practitioner could end his life by lethal injection.
Under the bill, the clinician decides whether the patient is suffering, based on observation and the information available (s. 241.21(4)). Words, sounds or gestures made in response to contact, possibly including pushing the clinician or needle away while shouting, could be construed by the clinician as involuntary and therefore would not count as refusal (s. 241.21(7)). Bill C-41 does not contain any prohibition against sedating the patient beforehand, which is what many euthanasia clinicians may do to patients who resist the administration of their lethal injection.
"A patient who signs a request under Bill C-41 early in a degenerative illness may change her mind as the illness progresses and she experiences the care of loved ones," said Brandan Tran, Director of Public Affairs at CLC.
"A clinician would decide whether the patient's sounds and gestures amount to refusal. This second half of Bill C-41 is the infliction of death on vulnerable persons at a time at which they cannot consent for themselves and who may be prevented from withdrawing prior consent."
Tran criticized the government for combining both measures in one bill, a move he said was calculated to flex political power and was not done in the interests of good governance.
CLC calls on Parliament to split Bill C-41 and pass the mental illness exclusion on its own before March 17, 2027.