Plaintiff Claire Elyse Brosseau pauses for a portrait outside the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto, on Monday, May 4, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sammy Kogan
By The Canadian Press
Sep 3, 2026 | 10:14 AM
TORONTO — An Ontario judge has denied a motion that would have allowed a woman who suffers solely from a mental illness to apply for a medically assisted death.
Claire Brosseau, a 49-year-old Toronto resident, filed a motion in May seeking a constitutional exemption from a law that currently prevents people from applying for MAID on the basis of mental illness alone.
“It is yet another barrier put in front of me that is forcing me to extend my suffering, and yet another example of governmental systems telling people with mental illnesses that we do not have the same rights nor the same autonomy as others,” Brosseau said in a statement Thursday in response to the decision.
“Canada is clearly delivering a message. Despite its promise to be a country with equal rights, it is not. It doesn’t value bodily autonomy, or at least not for a certain kind of person, and it appears that I am one.”