Recovery from severe mental illness is possible, yet it is poorly understood and significantly impaired by ignorance, stigma, discrimination and chronic under-funding by governments around the world.
I am sharing information on this website to try to raise awareness about mental health recovery, voice my opposition to medical assistance in dying (MAID) in Canada for people whose sole medical condition is mental illness, and to share some information about the ethics of the Canadian government.
Canada is a highly problematic case in point.
At a time when Canada’s deficit and debt are massive, and access to proper health care is increasingly difficult to find, the number of people opting for MAID is growing exponentially. Since being legislated a decade ago, MAID has become the fifth-leading cause of death in the country.
One investigative journalist has recently advocated for an external review of MAID (From Exception to Routine. Why Canada’s State-Assisted Suicide Regime Demands a Human-Rights Review). Facts addressed by Sam Cooper at The Bureau support the conclusion that the legislation was enacted under a false pretence, as Justin Trudeau’s government sold MAID to the public on the basis that it was to be used in rare, end-of-life circumstances and carefully monitored. This is not what has been done. Eligibility has been expanded to include people with non-terminal conditions, and evidence suggests that socio-economic factors are driving its use by vulnerable people.
Furthermore, another fundamental change to MAID is in process.
Eligibility for MAID is to be expanded to include people whose sole medical condition is mental illness, starting on March 17, 2027 (Government of Canada). In fact, the death of 26-year old Kiano Vafaeian by MAID on December 30, 2025 raises extremely serious questions about the current application of MAID in Canada and whether mental illness is already being used by medical practitioners to end the lives of vulnerable people.
As addressed by health care scholar Sally Pipes: “Caring for patients with complex, chronic or terminal conditions is among the most expensive obligations in any health system. That creates an inherent tension in systems where the government both finances care—and decides what care is worth covering” (Forbes, April 6, 2o26).
I happen to know about mental health recovery, and the ethics of Canadian government officials, from first-hand experience.
The late Patrick W. Corrigan was a mental health scholar, researcher and world-leading expert in the stigma of mental illness. A decade ago, he wrote an open letter to Justin Trudeau. In his letter, Professor Corrigan addressed my experience of severe mental illness in Canada and subsequent recovery in Australia, concluding with the assessment: “Knowledge of Mr. Mahar’s story will serve to challenge the stigma of mental illness, raise awareness of recovery, and inspire hope for people with mental health problems and their families” (P.W. Corrigan, February 22, 2016).
It is a matter of record that I am a former whistleblower who experienced symptoms of severe mental illness while campaigning for an investigation into evidence of systemic corruption in the Canadian government — The File 1000-121 Affair — and that my recovery process took a decade.
As evidenced in this excerpt from an old Global Television broadcast (YouTube), the stigma of mental illness was weaponized to hide the matter from proper public scrutiny, while one Member of Parliament — Dan McTeague — stated that I was “dead-on” and “slightly ahead of [my] time.”
Given the Canadian government’s decision to facilitate lethal injections for people with mental illness, it is time to find out if Mr. McTeague was correct.
And to find out about Prime Minister Mark Carney’s values.
