(LifeSiteNews) — Member of Parliament Andrew Lawton, who survived a suicide attempt in 2010, has kicked off a campaign calling on Canadians to publicly share their experiences with mental illness in support of MP Tamara Jansen’s Bill C-218, the “Right to Recover Act.”
The “I Got Better” campaign features Lawton’s own story, in which a long struggle with depression led to a suicide attempt, a coma, and a lengthy hospital stay. If euthanasia for mental illness had been available during his darkest days, Lawton says, he probably would not be alive today.
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“We need your help right now to protect vulnerable Canadians,” says the website. “The most important message we can send to those struggling with mental health is that hope is always possible. The ‘I Got Better’ campaign is about showing how the desire to end your life because of mental illness doesn’t have to be permanent. It’s possible for people to heal and to flourish, but not if we give up on them.”
“The Right to Recover Act is a private member’s bill brought forward by Conservative MP Tamara Jansen and seconded by MP Andrew Lawton. If passed, this bill will amend the Criminal Code to permanently stop the scheduled 2027 expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAiD) solely for mental illness.”
A previous iteration of the bill, put forward by retired MP Ed Fast, failed at second reading in 2023 by the narrow margin of 167 to 150. The New Democrats and several Liberals joined their Conservative colleagues in voting against euthanasia for mental illness. With only a handful of Liberal votes, the Right to Recover Act could become law. MPs, Lawton says, desperately need to hear from Canadians about the reality of living with mental illness—and recovery.
A new report from Meagan Gilmore at Canadian Affairs highlights the need for the “I Got Better” campaign:
Canadian journalists need to significantly change how they report on medical assistance in dying (MAID) for mental illness, a new report says. Most news articles about MAID for mental illness do not include perspectives from people with mental illnesses, the report says.
‘The voice and everyday experiences of people with lived experience of mental illness were limited [in news articles],’ says the report, released July 15 by the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Health Equity and Community Wellbeing at Toronto Metropolitan University. ‘This absence raises concerns about the implications of MAID’s expansion for impacted communities.’
Danielle Landry, the report’s lead author, and her team “examined 367 English Canadian news articles about MAID for mental illness published between 2020 and 2024.” Most examined federal euthanasia legislation. According to the report: “This suggests that articles are geared more towards politically astute readers, rather than informing the average Canadian about what’s at stake in this debate.”
The report “recommends journalists instead report on MAID as a public health issue,” as people living with mental illness—those at direct risk from the upcoming eligibility expansion in March 2027—are “rarely included in news articles about MAID for mental illness.” Mental illness, instead, is usually merely described as “suffering.” The report concluded: “When mental illness is repeatedly framed in the context of suffering, the framing effect could serve to reinforce notions that life with severe mental illness is not worth living.”
“The clock is ticking,” Landry told Canadian Affairs. “It’s almost 2027. It’s really important that there is space in that public discourse in which people with lived and living experiences can … share our knowledge and experience to actually contribute to that debate.” The “I Got Better” campaign is an essential way to do that—and it will encourage journalists to cover the stories of Canadians living with mental illness.
“Send your stories or videos to [email protected] or post them on social media using the hashtag #IGotBetter,” Lawton’s website urges. “Members of Parliament need to see how real people have been affected by mental illness to understand how important Bill C-218 is.”
Each video has the potential to sway an MP’s vote. Dying with Dignity has long understood the power of stories, and the stories of those who might be dead if they had not had the right to recover must be heard to counter their narrative.
