Ottawa, hospitals argue Montreal brainwashing lawsuit should be dismissed

Alison Steel was a young child when her mother was sent to Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron and his colleagues at Montreal's Allan Memorial Institute in the 1950s, to treat what her daughter believes was likely depression triggered in part by the loss of another child.

After rounds of electroshocks, induced comas and experimental drugs her mother, Jean, emerged from the psychiatric hospital a changed person — childlike, unable to perform everyday tasks, and as her daughter puts it, "in her own world."

Now, hopes for compensation for Steel and the families of other patients allegedly brainwashed decades ago at the Allan Memorial rest in the hands of a judge who must decide on a bid by the federal government and the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) to dismiss their lawsuit.

Last week, a Quebec Superior Court judge heard arguments from lawyers for the government and the hospital who argued the families waited too long to file claims of the treatment their siblings and parents received under the MK-ULTRA program, funded by the Canadian government and the CIA between the 1940s and 1960s at the Allan Memorial.

Steel is joined by about 50 families who have brought the lawsuit alleging their loved ones were subjected to psychiatric experimentation that included powerful drugs, repeated audio messages, induced comas and shock treatment.

"Our families were treated like guinea pigs," she said outside a Montreal courtroom on Friday.

In court, David Baum, a lawyer who represents the MUHC and its affiliated hospital the Royal Victoria, said while the hospitals felt compassion for the families, they believe their legal efforts to secure compensation to be "ill-advised, misguided and doomed to fail." 

Baum told Justice Christian Brossard that the procedure was prescribed — meaning it was filed after the window to bring forward a suit — and sought to re-litigate issues that have already been "extensively addressed" by previous court cases going back decades.

"It's our view that, in the interest of justice and the parties themselves, that this court should not advance a recourse that ultimately has no chance of success," Baum told the court.

Baum and a lawyer for the Attorney General of Canada claimed Steel and the other family members had all the information they needed to sue years or even decades ago.

They noted that some former patients received $100,000 in compensation beginning in the 1990s, which was offered without an admission of guilt on the government's part. Those patients also signed releases renouncing further claims.

Alan Stein, the lawyer representing the families, bristled at the claims that his clients' case represents an "abuse of procedure," as the other side has argued.

"If anyone is abusive, it's the government of Canada and the Royal Victoria Hospital in this case," he told the judge.

In court, he also suggested the current motion to dismiss is a delaying tactic from hospital and government lawyers, noting the issue of time limits were not raised in previous court proceedings.

Experimentation also hurt family members, say plaintiffs

While Cameron's treatments have spawned decades worth of reports and legal action, Steel and the other family members argue that they were only able to obtain their families' medical records in the last few years, and had only recently realized that there was an avenue open to them to sue, as family members.

Stein said that while previous compensation was offered to some former patients, nobody has sufficiently recognized the impact of the alleged treatments on their children or siblings, who lived for decades with the repercussions.

"They say we are abusing their procedures...no, they're abusing us by making us wait this long," Steel said.

She said the full scope of what happened to her mother only became clear to her in recent years, when she managed to obtain her mother's medical records and, with Stein's help, obtain compensation for her mother's estate.

That settlement was part of what encouraged others now involved in the suit to seek out medical records and explore legal options.

Glenn Landry, a member of the lawsuit, says he was raised by foster families after his mother became incapable of caring for him after she received treatments. While he maintained a relationship with her, he described her as an "empty shell" who never shared insights on her life.

Landry said he and others have faced resistance over the years when trying to obtain their family members' medical records. He said he acted to join the lawsuit as soon as he finally got his mother's records in 2018.

He sees the argument over time limits as an "excuse" by institutions who want to avoid addressing a historical wrong by delaying as long as possible.

He noted the government and hospital lawyers have also suggested suspending the case until a separate proposed class action by another set of alleged victims can be held. If that happens, and the case is delayed further, "more of us [will be] dead," he said.

Brossard said Friday he will issue a decision at a later date.