REGINA, Sask. — The Saskatchewan government introduced legislation Monday aimed at establishing additional safeguards for medical assistance in dying (MAID) and strengthening protections for health-care professionals who do not wish to participate in the procedure.
Bill 73, The Medical Assistance in Dying Additional Safeguards Act, received first reading Nov. 9, with second reading taking place as of Tuesday morning.
According to the province's news release, the legislation would prohibit MAID for anyone under 18, anyone whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness and individuals who lack the capacity to make their own health-care decisions.
The province said the legislation also responds to concerns from health-care providers by strengthening protections for professionals who do not wish to participate in MAID.
Speaking to reporters Monday, Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said the legislation responds to concerns the province has heard about MAID, including from other provincial governments.
“We've heard about this not only from Saskatchewan, but other provincial governments as well have had concerns around, to be fair to the federal government, a previous direction of the federal government on this.”
Cockrill also pointed to the importance of conscientious objection provisions for health-care professionals.
“I think it's fair to say that medical assistance in dying is a sensitive topic. There's strong views on all sides of this topic, but I think it's important that we allow health-care professionals that may not agree with MAID to be able to remove themselves from delivering those services if they so choose.”
Cockrill said the process for health-care professionals who choose not to participate would need to be formalized in consultation with the Saskatchewan Health Authority, as the details are not outlined in the legislation.
Several of the proposed provincial restrictions are already reflected in federal law. People under 18 are not eligible for MAID, and those whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness are currently excluded.
The federal government introduced Bill C-41 on Oct. 27, which would prevent the scheduled expansion of MAID eligibility to individuals whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness. That expansion is currently scheduled for March 17, 2027.
Cockrill said Saskatchewan had been developing its legislation for several months because of uncertainty surrounding the recommendations of the federal Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying and whether Ottawa would act on them.
He said the provincial government believes MAID should be carried out responsibly and that health-care workers should have the right to decline participation.
Opposition house leader and justice critic Nicole Sarauer said the NDP would closely examine the legislation and consult health-care stakeholders.
Based on an initial review, Sarauer questioned whether the bill was “addressing problems that may not be issues or may not be issues anymore,” particularly regarding access to MAID for minors and people whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness.
“So we're going to be looking at it very closely and scrutinizing it quite, quite deeply with our stakeholders to figure out what's really going on here.”
As for the potential overlap with federal legislation, Sarauer said that if Ottawa is already addressing those concerns, “there probably shouldn't be a need to pursue this legislation. I'd leave that for the province to explain why they're focusing their energy on this.”
