Class action suit by families of those brainwashed in Montreal medical experiments gets go-ahead

A lawsuit against the Canadian government, the Royal Victoria Hospital and the McGill University Health Centre is moving ahead.

About 55 families of victims who underwent medical experimentation in the 1950s and 1960s are suing for millions of dollars.

Alison Steel says her mother was never the same after undergoing brainwashing experiments at Montreal’s Allan Memorial Institute.

Treatments included chemically induced sleep for weeks, rounds of electroshocks and experimental drugs.

“She just wasn’t there for me; she wasn’t emotional,” Steel said. “I believe I suffered as a child, even though I love my mother.”

Steel is one of the main plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Canadian government, the Royal Victoria Hospital and the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC).

The plaintiffs allege the Government of Canada funded psychiatric treatments by Dr. Ewen Cameron at the Allan Memorial Institute between 1950 to 1964. They claim the government played a role in the supervision and control of these experiments, which were part of the CIA’s MK-ULTRA program of covert mind-control.

The defendants had moved to partially dismiss the case, but Quebec Superior Court dismissed the defence’s request on Feb. 23.

Lawyer Alan Stein says the lawsuit, seeking about $1 million per family on top of legal costs “to compensate them for their [physical and emotional] loss,” can now move ahead.

In a statement to CBC News, the MUHC said Cameron acted independently and was not considered by law to be an employee of the Royal Victoria Hospital.

The Department of Justice says it is reviewing the court’s latest decision.