October 30, 2025
“MAID Track 2 Is Not a Health Care Option.” This was the central message delivered by Bonnie Brayton, CEO of DAWN Canada, during the National Conference Knowledge Hub hosted by Western University. The event explored Innovations in Addressing Gender-Based Violence and Trauma- and Violence-Informed Health Promotion, drawing experts and advocates from across the country.
Brayton’s virtual presentation shed light on the deepening crisis facing women with disabilities in Canada. She emphasized that while 30% of women in Canada live with a disability, they already experience the highest rates of gender-based violence and poverty. The expansion of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) under Track 2, she presented, is worsening this vulnerability by offering death in place of the supports required to live safely and with dignity.
Drawing on findings from Ontario’s Coroner’s MAiD Death Review Panel, she highlighted that Track 2 recipients, whose deaths are not reasonably foreseeable, are disproportionately from marginalized groups, including people facing housing instability, material deprivation, and limited employment opportunities.
She further explained that Since the 2021 expansion of MAiD to include people with disabilities whose deaths are not imminent, the impact on low-income women has become increasingly alarming. In 2023, over 58% of Track 2 recipients were women, many living long-term with disabilities and entrenched poverty.
The presentation also underscored the link between poverty and MAID decisions, pointing to growing evidence that socioeconomic inequality is influencing life-and-death outcomes for women with disabilities.
Brayton’s presentation called for urgent, intersectional policy reforms that uphold safety, dignity, and the right to live – not the pressure to die.
Click here to access the full presentation.
