Who is Claire Brosseau?

Canadian actress and comedian Claire Brosseau is at the heart of a high-stakes legal and ethical fight over whether people with severe, treatment‑resistant mental illness should be allowed access to Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) program. Despite a long career in film, TV, and stand‑up, she says her lifelong, “unbearable” psychiatric suffering makes continued living intolerable, and she is suing the federal government over a law that excludes those whose only diagnosis is mental illness until at least 2027. This episode explores how her case exposes a deep divide between experts who believe she can still recover and those who argue that denying her MAiD is discriminatory, raising urgent questions about autonomy, dignity, and how the law values mental versus physical illness at the end of life.dyingwithdignity​