The most important message we can send to those struggling with mental health is that hope is always possible.

That is why I support Bill C-218, the Right to Recover Act, which would amend the Criminal Code to permanently stop the scheduled 2027 expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAiD) solely for mental illness.

As of March 17, 2027, Canadians suffering only from mental illness, with no terminal illness or physical condition, would become eligible for MAiD. This proposed expansion has been condemned by psychiatrists, mental health advocates, Indigenous communities, disability rights organizations, and even the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

In 2023, I spoke in the House of Commons about my own experience with depression and mental health struggles because I believe deeply that people facing mental illness need support, treatment, and hope — not a system that gives up on them.

Dr. Karandeep Gaind, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto and chair of his hospital’s MAID team, warned that evidence shows it is impossible to reliably predict whether a mental illness will improve in any individual. Research he cited found that predictions that a condition is “irremediable” are accurate only 47 per cent of the time — essentially no better than chance.

Recovery is possible for those suffering from mental illness, but not if we give up on them.

Bill C-218 will help protect vulnerable Canadians and reaffirm a simple principle: every life has value, and every person deserves the chance to recover.