The federal government has admitted it has not adopted any formal definition of "mental illness" for the purposes of medical assistance in dying (MAID), despite plans to expand eligibility to Canadians suffering solely from mental illness beginning March 17, 2027.

The revelation came in response to an Order Paper Question from Conservative MP Tamara Jansen, who asked the government to clarify exactly what conditions will qualify for assisted suicide once the current exclusion expires.

In its June 8 response, the Department of Justice acknowledged that "the Government of Canada has not adopted, endorsed, or relied upon any formal definition or interpretation of 'mental illness'" and instead continues to rely on a non-binding legislative background document prepared during the passage of former Bill C-7.

The government says Parliament intended the term to include psychiatric conditions such as depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. However, officials acknowledged the term is not defined in the Criminal Code, regulations, or any other federal law.

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Instead, the government says it will ultimately be left to individual doctors and nurse practitioners to decide whether a patient's condition constitutes a "mental illness" for the purpose of determining MAID eligibility.

The response raises questions about how consistently the law can be applied across Canada when eligibility for a state-assisted death may depend on the subjective judgment of individual practitioners.

The Justice Department further admitted that it has no formal mechanism in place to establish the boundaries of the term before the exclusion expires next year. Instead, the government says it is awaiting the findings of a Special Joint Parliamentary Committee studying MAID and mental illness, which is expected to report by October 2026.

The government's own response highlights why mental illness was originally excluded from MAID eligibility. Officials noted that assessing decision-making capacity in psychiatric patients can be particularly difficult, that suicidal ideation is itself a symptom of some mental illnesses, and that the trajectory of mental illness is often far less predictable than that of physical disease.

Despite those acknowledged concerns, the current exclusion is scheduled to expire in less than a year.

The government also revealed that it has not adopted the recommendations of the 2022 Expert Panel on MAID and Mental Illness as a formal definition of the term. Any legal analysis conducted by government lawyers on the issue remains secret under solicitor-client privilege.

The disclosure means that nearly six years after Bill C-7 was passed, and less than a year before MAID is scheduled to become available for mental illness alone, the federal government still cannot point to a legally binding definition of the very condition that will determine eligibility.