Five CRTL Board members had an amicable first meeting with our new MP, Connie Cody, at her office. Already having read our letter, she was prepared to speak to our concern and readily shared that she and the Conservative Party of Canada are of the same mind as we in opposing the expansion of MAiD for persons whose sole underlying condition is mental illness. By introducing Private Member’s Bill C-218, MP Tamara Jansen is championing this stance on behalf of the CPCs. In personal recognition of the huge need for supportive services for all, including veterans, addicts and the mentally ill, Connie spoke of her own involvement in posing a plan several years ago: a one-site rehabilitation and housing project that would take in drug addicts (many of whom suffer from mental illness), offering safety, food, counselling and job support towards full rehabilitation; regrettably, the Municipality did not ‘buy in.’ Connie recommended that the best way for her to convey our concern in the House of Commons is for us to submit to her printed petitions with hand-written signatures, that she will in turn table officially. If House of Commons proceeds with the second hour of debate of Bill C- 218 (also known as “The Right to Recover Act”) on February 26th , potentially followed by a vote early in March, we’d best start gathering signatures right away!
  

Contact our office to obtain petition sheets and help gather additional signatures from others. Do not write on back of the petition sheet. Once your sheet(s) is completed, please return it to our office.

CRTL’s Letter to MP Connie Cody

January 13, 2026

Dear Connie,

Congratulations and welcome to your role as MP for Cambridge!  We appreciate your commitment to our community and look forward to growing a relationship with you.  May God bless you with wisdom and energy as you carry out your work.

Today’s letter and our visit scheduled for January 22nd, come out of a deep concern for the 2021 decision of Parliament to expand Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) to persons whose only underlying condition is mental illness.  We are extremely concerned that offering MAiD to Canadians afflicted solely by mental illness cruelly denies them the chance to recover and devalues their worth at a time when they should receive everything available to encourage them towards hope and healing.  Unless a new law stops MAiD in its tracks, desperate Canadians will end their lives and deny themselves, their families and friends a chance for a fulfilling future together.  Connie, it is for this reason that we are reaching out to you for help.  Please, can we count on you to vote in favour of MP Tamara Jansen’s Private Member’s Bill C-218?

We acknowledge the painful despair and hopelessness that mental illness can inflict upon its sufferer, but we will not accept that the offer of death—even at the ill one’s request—is an ethical or satisfactory solution to their suffering!  Mental illness is a health condition that begs for caring help in living—not death!  Experts agree that it is impossible to determine when mental illness is irremediable or not; and there are many cases on record relating a positive outcome for even the most despondent, when persistent, supportive and compassionate care towards healing are accessed.  Mental illness is not proven irremediable; it does not meet the legal requirement for MAiD. Can we, in Canada, in all honesty say that we have given our best when we allow the killing of our neighbour in his/her most vulnerable hour?!

Ms. Jansen’s Bill C-218 (“The Right to Recover Act”) seeks to amend the Criminal Code so as to STOP the scheduled expansion of MAiD solely for mental illness.  To offer quality care, protection and caring support of every kind is the far better alternative. 

When the day comes, Connie, please vote in favour of Bill C-218 and stand up for the protection of human life.  In addition, could we please ask that you promote and support every effort to expand the availability of all health- and hope-advancing medical, social and support services to our ailing neighbours so they will receive every opportunity to recover with hope, and not want to die in despair. 

Please encourage your colleagues to do so too.  The restored futures of many depend on all of us!   Thank you!

Sincerely,

Catherine Miedema, Pro-Life Advocacy Coordinator (on behalf of Cambridge Right to Life)