Alberta Record

· Bill / medical assistance in dying restrictions · enacted

Bill 18 – Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act, 2026

Tabled bill establishing a provincial MAID framework, prohibiting MAID where mental illness is the sole condition, restricting eligibility to Track 1 cases, and barring advance requests.

Moderate impactCivil libertiesHealth system governanceHealth-care bodiesThe public, directly

What changed

  • Prohibits MAID for individuals whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness.
  • Restricts MAID to cases where natural death is reasonably foreseeable within 12 months (Track 1 only); prohibits Track 2 MAID.
  • Bars advance requests for MAID and bars individuals who lack capacity to make health-care decisions; prohibits MAID for anyone under 18.
  • Restricts health-care providers from initiating conversations about MAID with patients unless the patient raises the topic; prevents physicians from referring patients to receive MAID outside Alberta.
  • Permits health-care facilities to refuse to provide MAID and to establish 150-metre exclusion zones around their premises.

Why it matters

  • Adds a provincial layer of restriction on top of the federal Criminal Code framework that governs MAID, narrowing access for several patient groups.
  • Restricts decisions historically made between patients, families, and clinicians by introducing province-wide eligibility limits and conversation rules.
  • Limits cross-jurisdictional access by barring referrals out of Alberta, raising questions about how the restriction interacts with the federal framework.
  • Interacts with both the Charter and federal MAID legislation, an area where constitutional litigation is reasonably foreseeable.

Rights affected

  • Due process — Fair procedure before rights are restricted by the state.
  • Bodily autonomy — Decisions about one's own body and medical care.

Other governance concerns

  • Bodily autonomy and end-of-life decision-making for adults with capacity.
  • Access to a federally available medical procedure constrained at the provincial level.
  • Conscience and information-sharing constraints on health-care providers.

Primary sources (1)

Secondary sources (2)