The Archdiocese of Toronto's new Help Not Harm campaign urges members of Canada's largest Catholic community to oppose the March 17, 2027, plan to expand euthanasia access to individuals solely living with mental illness.

Building support for Bill C-218, The Right to Recover Act, is the central goal of this public awareness drive. If this legislative proposal became law, it would be a criminal offence to provide medical assistance in dying (MAiD) to a person whose sole underlying condition is mental illness. Also, a mental health disorder would not be deemed a “grievous and irremediable medical condition” when it is the sole underlying ailment.

The background information sheet and parish campaign announcements composed for this endeavour call on the faithful to visit helpnotharmcanada.ca/.

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By filling out the form on the home page, congregants are provided a prepared letter to their MP, Minister of Justice Sean Fraser and Prime Minister Mark Carney, urging them to vote in favour of the legislation tabled by Conservative Tamara Jansen last summer.  Website visitors may choose to proceed with the suggested text or craft their own message before submission.

The site also features messaging about why to support Bill C-218. One argument suggests that “allowing MAiD for mental illness sends a conflicting message at a time when Canada is investing in suicide prevention and crisis support.” Another offers a reminder that “there is no medical consensus on when a mental health condition is truly untreatable, making accurate and ethical assessments extremely difficult.”

Cardinal Frank Leo’s letter to the faithful in support of the Help Not Harm campaign declared that the Catholic response to the mental health crisis “must be love, solidarity, and a steadfast commitment to care. We are called to offer help, not harm; hope, not despair; protection, not abandonment.”

In the coming days, Leo will write directly to Carney, Fraser and all the MPs in the Archdiocese of Toronto to express his concern about the scheduled broadening of medical assistance in dying (MAiD) access.

This broad push is full steam ahead for the remainder of March and throughout the first part of April in the lead-up to Bill C-218's second hour of debate and second reading vote. Both these stages are projected to transpire the week of April 13-17.

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“Advocating for laws that protect and promote life is a meaningful expression of our Catholic faith in action — most especially during this Lenten journey, a time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving,” said Leo about this effort to engage parliamentarians. “Let us pray for our elected officials, that they may be guided by wisdom and courage.

“May we also hold close in prayer all who live with mental illness and their families, that they may receive compassionate care and renewed hope.”

The recent precedent of Bill C-314 is an important consideration for the advancement potential of Bill C-218, as the latter is deemed the successor of the former, which was narrowly defeated.

Retired Conservative MP Ed Fast’s legislation to halt the expansion of MAiD for the solely mentally ill garnered unanimous support from the Conservatives, NDP and Green Party at second reading on Oct. 18, 2023. Even eight Liberal MPs broke ranks. However, 136 other members of the governing party, 30 Bloc Québécois representatives and the Independent MP Han Dong voted nay. The official tally was 150-167.

Universal support from the Conservative, NDP and Green Party parties this time around would amount to a maximum of 148 votes, given the makeup of the House of Commons as of March 15 – a very fluid landscape given the floor-crossings of recent months.

If the Bloc echoes the unanimous opposition it extended towards Bill C-314, support from at least 24 Liberal MPs will be crucial for Bill C-218 to advance onto the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

It is important to note that by-elections are scheduled for April 13 in the Toronto electoral districts of Scarborough Southwest, University-Rosedale and Terrebonne in Quebec, which saw its 2025 result of a one-vote Liberal victory get annulled by the Supreme Court of Canada last month. The Liberals could become a majority government before a second reading vote for Bill C-218 by prevailing in two of the three races.

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During the first hour of debate on Bill C-218 on December 5, 2025, Liberal and Bloc Québécois speakers indicated a preference for waiting on the conclusions of the recently established Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying before advancing any reforms to Canada’s assisted suicide regime.

Archdiocese of Toronto Director of Public Relations and Communications Neil MacCarthy expressed to The Catholic Register in an email that “we are closely monitoring the special joint committee. We would welcome the opportunity to participate in the process or in any discussions relating to euthanasia legislation in our country.”