Amery hosted a rural media roundtable on MAID concerns

Posted on April 16, 2026 by Vauxhall Advance

By Heather Cameron
Vauxhall Advance
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Minister of Justice Mickey Amery recently hosted a rural media roundtable regarding providing Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) protections for Albertans with mental illness via Bill 18: the Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act.

According to Minister Amery, if the Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act is passed, it would establish Alberta’s medical assistance in dying by provincial safeguards, and establishing regulation-making powers including limiting MAID eligibility to those whose natural death has been determined by a physician or nurse practitioner to be ‘reasonably foreseeable’, which means within the next 12 months, which Minister Amery described as ‘Track 1 MAID’. The Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act, Minister Amery stated, will likewise prohibit MAID where a natural death is not reasonably foreseeable, which is otherwise known as ‘Track 2 MAID’. 

The Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act, Minister Amery explained, would also prohibit MAID in Alberta for those under 18, people whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness, individuals who lack capacity to make their own health-care decisions, and it would also prohibit individuals to receive medical referrals to receive MAID outside of Alberta.

In addition to that, Minister Amery stated, Alberta’s MAID assessors and providers would be required to meet education and training requirements.

“MAID has grown at a faster rate in Canada than anywhere on the planet,” said Minister Amery. 

The numbers associated with the increase of Canada-wide MAID deaths are ‘troubling,’ Minister Amery explained, as Canada-wide MAID deaths have increased by approximately 63 per cent.

During the roundtable, Minister Amery emphasized that those scenarios more often than not involve people potentially receiving information from their practitioners that may may weigh heavily on them and their already distressed or otherwise medically compromised state, such as those with cognitive issues like dementia or mental illness. For that reason, Minister Amery stated, advance requests for MAID would also be prohibited if this bill became law.

Minister Amery said that removing the element of persuasion and removing the element of having coercion involved is also part of regulations included in the Act. 

“The risk of coercion and the risk of undue influence is something that we would like to prevent from happening,” said Minister Amery.

If the Bill 18: the Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act is made into law, Minister Amery stated, sanctions would be introduced against physicians and nurse practitioners when they violate MAID legislation, legislation that includes established rules and restrictions around how and when MAID information may be shared with patients and advertised in health-care settings. 

“This doesn’t preclude any of our medical practitioners from providing information when somebody asks for it, and it doesn’t prevent any practitioner, even those that choose not to give assessments or to give from referring those individual patients to resources that are provided online and elsewhere,” said Minister Amery. “What it does do is it prevents our doctors, our nurse practitioners, and other medical professionals proactively offering this as an option when other options might exist first.”

Bill 18, Minister Amery emphasized, likewise makes it clear that physicians will have a right to refuse to conduct MAID assessments or to provide MAID itself, and healthcare facilities will also have the right to refuse to provide MAID services on their premises.

“We know that MAID is a sensitive and complex issue, but we also believe that a balanced and a compassionate approach is one that helps people live with dignity,” said Minister Amery. “We want people to have the opportunity to weigh every option including potential treatments, including living with the with their conditions and seeking all of the options available without having medical practitioners push towards one particular option, and that is the option of finality. We’d like for them to be able to assess that with their families. We’d like for them to be able to seek second opinions. We want people to be able to seek every single option and have all opportunities to gather their thoughts and their emotions in a more comfortable way. Hope is far more preferable to despair.”