Jacques Boissinot/CP Quebec Health Minister Danielle McCann responds during question period at the legislature in Quebec City on Oct. 2, 2019.

MONTREAL — Quebec on Monday walked back a plan to offer medical aid in dying to those suffering severe, incurable mental illness and will now consult widely before making a final decision on the controversial issue. Health Minister Danielle McCann made the announcement in Montreal at the opening of a one-day forum on changes to the province’s medical aid in dying law. “We will, first, continue our consultations with the population,” McCann told reporters in Montreal. “We’d already announced that we would have a consultation at the end of February or early March, but we’ll go further and we’ll take the time we need to make sure we have a real social consensus.” The consultation must continue in order to ensure Quebecers feel confident and comfortable with the choices that will be made, McCann said. Watch: Federal justice minister says reforms coming to doctor-assisted dying

She said she’s been preoccupied by concerns that have been raised since she announced last Tuesday that, as part of changes to the province’s legislation to abide by a Quebec Superior Court ruling, the procedure would be made available to people suffering from severe mental illnesses that can’t be treated. Last week, the province announced it would comply with last year’s court ruling that struck down part of its medical aid in dying legislation — specifically the requirement that someone seeking medically assisted death be “at the end of life.” The same Quebec Superior Court judgment invalidated the “reasonably foreseeable natural death” requirement of the federal Criminal Code. But amid criticism following that announcement, the province decided to roll back the measure offering the procedure to patients suffering from only mental ailments. “I have been very sensitive to what has come out in the last few days,” McCann said. She said the consultation process — originally expected to last at least a day — will now last “as long as it takes, because we need to have a social consensus around this question.”