Disability rights groups launching Charter challenge against MAID law

A coalition of disability rights groups says it is launching a Charter challenge against a part of Canada's law on medical assistance in dying.

The group, which also includes two individual plaintiffs, argues that what's known as Track 2 of the MAID law has resulted in premature deaths.

Under the law, patients whose natural deaths are not reasonably foreseeable but whose condition leads to intolerable suffering can apply for a Track-2 assisted death.

The coalition says Track 2 of the MAID law has had a direct effect on the lives of people with disabilities and argues medically assisted death should only be available to those whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable.

The executive vice-president of Inclusion Canada — which is part of the coalition — says there has been an alarming trend where people with disabilities are seeking assisted death due to social deprivation, poverty and a lack of essential supports.

Krista Carr says those individuals should instead be supported in order to live better lives.