
Ottawa shows no signs of limiting MAID after UN panel calls for reversal
OTTAWA — Ottawa is giving no sign that it intends to amend existing legislation on medical assistance in dying — something a UN committee called for earlier this spring.
The federal minister responsible for disabilities spoke at a hearing of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities last week, about two months after the committee called on Canada to repeal the 2021 law that expanded eligibility for assisted dying to those whose deaths were not reasonably foreseeable.
Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu gave a speech at the UN last Tuesday to mark 15 years since Canada ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
“It’s about, for me, making relationships in this space and making sure that I have a really strong connection with the community, which I think is really important to be a good minister,” she said in an interview after the speech.