The proportion of residents who would completely ban medical assistance in dying jumped by six points since 2023.
Vancouver, BC [October 30, 2025] – The perceptions of Canadians on the existing guidelines that allow medical assistance in dying have not gone through severe fluctuations over the past two years, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative national sample, 52% of Canadians are satisfied with the regulations, up four points since a similar Research Co. poll conducted in April 2023.
Equal proportions of Canadians are either dissatisfied with the rules related to medical assistance in dying (24%, -3) or are undecided (also 24%, -1).
“Fewer than half of Conservative Party voters in the 2025 federal election (46%) are content with Canada’s medical assistance in dying laws,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “The proportions are higher among those who cast ballots for New Democratic Party (NDP) (53%) or Liberal Party (59%) candidates.”
Canadians of East Asian descent are the least likely to endorse the status quo on medical assistance in dying (47%). Satisfaction is higher among Canadians whose heritage is European (51%), South Asian (58%) or Indigenous (60%).
More than three-in-five Quebecers (62%) endorse the current guidelines that allow a person to seek medical assistance in dying. The proportions are lower in Saskatchewan and Manitoba (52%), Atlantic Canada (51%), British Columbia (also 51%), Ontario (49%), and Alberta (45%).
When asked about their personal feelings, almost three-in-five Canadians (58%, =) believe medical assistance in dying should be allowed, but only under specific circumstances.
Similar proportions of Canadians think medical assistance in dying should either never be allowed (18%, +6) or always be permitted (16%, -4).
Three-in-four Canadians (75%, +2) support an individual being permitted to seek medical assistance in dying in Canada if these conditions are met:
- Being eligible for health services funded by the federal government, or a province or territory (or during the applicable minimum period of residence or waiting period for eligibility).
- Being at least 18 years old and mentally competent.
- Having a grievous and irremediable medical condition.
- Making a voluntary request for medical assistance in dying that is not the result of outside pressure or influence.
- Giving informed consent to receive medical assistance in dying.
Under the current legislation, only an adult with a grievous and irremediable medical condition can seek medical assistance in dying in Canada.
Fewer than half of Canadians are willing to expand the scope of existing legislation to allow medical assistance in dying in cases of inability to receive medical treatment (49%, -2), disability (46%, -4), mental illness (42%, -1), homelessness (26%, -2) or poverty (25%, -2).
Practically half of Canadians (49%, +7) believe anyone who helps a person to commit suicide should be prosecuted, while just over three-in-ten (31%, -3) disagree and one-in-five (20%, -3) are not sure.
Canadians aged 18-to-34 are more likely to think that aiding a person to commit suicide should remain a criminal offence (60%, +8) than their counterparts aged 35-to-54 (48%, +7) and aged 55 and over (41%, +7).
Canadians remain divided when asked about the appropriate punishment for a parent who is found guilty of assisting a terminally ill son or daughter to die.
Just under three-in-ten Canadians (28%, -1) express a preference for a prison sentence at the discretion of a judge, while15% (+7) think the crime calls for a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
Just over one-in-ten (11%, -3) think the actions in this case can be dealt with through a fine and no time in prison, while just under one-in-four Canadians (23%, -1) choose no penalty at all.
Methodology: Results are based on an online survey conducted from October 15 to October 17, 2025, among 1,001 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in Canada. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is +/- 3.1 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.
Find our data tables here and download the press release here.
For more information on this poll, please contact:
Mario Canseco, President, Research Co.
778.929.0490
[e] mario.canseco@researchco.ca