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Montreal Gazette
09-06-2025
- Health
- Montreal Gazette
‘It's destroyed a lot of lives': Families attend authorization hearings in Montreal for brainwashing class-action suit
News By Lana Ponting was only 15 years old when she was admitted to the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal. As a rebellious teenager, it was believed the psychiatric hospital could address her 'stubbornness and disobedience.' Instead, she says, she was subjected to severe physical and mental abuse, along with psychiatric experimentation that would later become infamously known as the Montreal experiments. Now 83, frail and requiring a walker, Ponting travelled from Winnipeg to be at the Montreal courthouse Monday as authorization hearings in a class-action lawsuit over the alleged abuse began. 'It's destroyed a lot of lives,' Ponting said outside the courtroom, anger in her voice. '(I want them) to see us, to feel us. I'm alive. I will not stop. I will fight until the end.' Filed in 2019, the class-action request alleges the Canadian government funded psychiatric treatments by Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron at the institute between 1948 and 1964. The experiments were allegedly part of the CIA's MK-ULTRA program of covert mind-control. In addition to the government, the lawsuit also targets McGill University, which was affiliated to the psychiatric hospital, and Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital. 'This is not a medical or professional malpractice case. ... This is a case of systemic abuse,' lawyer Jeff Orenstein told the court on Monday. 'When people went to the Allan Memorial, they were told they would be receiving legitimate treatment,' he added. 'Instead they were human guinea pigs.' The defendants are contesting the class-action request, partly arguing the families waited too long to file their claims according to the law. The Canadian government also contends that some families accepted $100,000 payments from the federal government in the 1990s, which then barred them from pursuing further legal action. They will plead their case on Tuesday. Orenstein, for his part, argues the victims were unable to act earlier because of the trauma and psychological pain they endured. He believes the suit could grow to include several hundred people. The lawsuit had tried to include the U.S. government as a defendant, but Quebec's Court of Appeal ruled that the U.S. cannot be sued in Canada for its alleged role in the experiments; the Supreme Court of Canada refused to review the case. Julie Tanny, the lead plaintiff in the case, said she spent years not speaking about what happened to her father, Charles, because of the stigma attached. The few times she did, she added, she was met with disbelief. Present for the hearing, Tanny said she still can't accept the way her father changed after his stay at the institute in 1957 to treat facial pain. She described the warm and engaged father she once knew as having completely 'evaporated' after his treatment. He grew distant and barely recognized his children. 'For a kid, it's very traumatizing to have that relationship go away and not really understand why,' said Tanny, 71. 'It was the beginning of a nightmare for hundreds and hundreds of families.' In court on Monday, Orenstein detailed the experiments Cameron carried out on patients, noting how they were all well-documented at the time. Rather than scientific efforts, he compared them to acts of psychological torture. He described how patients were allegedly subjected to sensory deprivation and drug-induced comas, forced to listen to repeated audio messages on loop and to undergo extensive electroshock treatment. In some cases, he said, people were reduced to a childlike state. Others left the hospital as 'robots with no human emotions.' Lisa Moore, whose mother Hélène was sent to the hospital in the early 1960s, left the courtroom in tears as the alleged abuse was described, her emotions too difficult to contain. Now 54, Moore grew up in foster care and spent decades resenting her mother for how she treated her. But hearing the extent of what she went through laid bare in court on Monday provided a new perspective. 'It wasn't her fault. They took away her ability for compassion,' said Moore, who reconciled with her mother in recent years. 'It's very overwhelming,' she added. 'I just keep imagining what it was like for her.'
Reuters
15-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Canada's Indigenous alliance to buy stake in Enbridge's Westcoast system for $511 million
May 15 (Reuters) - Canada's Enbridge ( opens new tab said on Thursday that Stonlasec8 Indigenous Alliance will buy a 12.5% stake in the pipeline operator's Westcoast system for C$715 million ($511.19 million), as Indigenous communities look to own stake in energy firms. The pipeline system stretches over 2,900 kilometers from northeast British Columbia (B.C.) and the B.C.-Alberta border to the Canada-U.S. border, with a capacity of 3.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. Canada's First Nations are increasingly buying stakes in Canadian energy projects as they seek economic benefits from projects on their land, while companies look to raise capital. The Canadian government is also interested in selling a stake of its C$34 billion Trans Mountain oil pipeline to Indigenous groups. Enbridge said that a unit of Canada Development Investment Corporation will provide C$400 million in loans to the Alliance, which represents 36 First Nations in B.C. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the second quarter. ($1 = 1.3987 Canadian dollars)
CBC
18-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Advance polling is open for April 28 federal election. Here's how you can vote
Who's running and where in the federal election? We map out the 7 races in N.L. 7 days ago Duration 3:42 Social Sharing The federal election is less than two weeks away, but advance polling is open for those who don't want to wait to vote. Here's what you need to know to cast your ballot in Newfoundland and Labrador for the 2025 federal election. When and how to vote There are a number of ways to cast your ballot. Advance polling begins on Friday and runs until Monday at assigned polling stations. You can find advance polling locations on your voter information card or the Elections Canada website. You can also vote on election day itself — Monday, April 28 — at your assigned polling station. Polls will be open from 9:30 a.m. NT to 9:30 p.m. NT. To vote by mail, you have to apply by Tuesday at 6 p.m. NT, and return the special ballot by mail or in person at an Elections Canada office before polls close on April 28. Special ballot voting is open at acute care facilities starting on Sunday and running until Tuesday. In order to vote in person you must confirm your identity. Elections Canada lists three ways to prove your identity and address. One method is to show a piece of identification, like a driver's licence or a card issued by the Canadian government with your photo, name and current address. You can also show two pieces of identification that both have your name, and at least one must have your current address, like a utility bill. If you don't have identification on you, you can declare your identity and address in writing, and will need someone assigned to the polling station you know who can vouch on your behalf. Below is a list of who is running in Newfoundland and Labrador. St. John's East Liberal candidate and incumbent Joanne Thompson, Conservative candidate David Brazil, NDP candidate Mary Shortall, Green Party of Canada candidate Otis Crandel, Communist Party of Canada candidate Samuel Crête. Avalon Liberal candidate Paul Connors, Conservative candidate Steve Kent, Parti Rhinocéros Party Alexander Tilley, NDP candidate Judy Vanta. Cape Spear Conservative candidate Corey Curtis, Liberal candidate Tom Osborne, Animal Protection Party of Canada candidate Mike Peach, Green Party of Canada candidate Kaelem Tingate, NDP candidate Brenda Walsh. Central Newfoundland Conservative candidate and incumbent Clifford Small, Liberal candidate Lynette Powell, NDP candidate Darian Vincent. Labrador Liberal candidate Philip Earle, NDP candidate Marius Normore, Conservative candidate Ella Wallace. Long Range Mountains Conservative candidate Carol Anstey, Liberal candidate Don Bradshaw, Independent candidate Robbie Coles, People's Party of Canada candidate Pamela Geiger, NDP candidate Sarah Parsons. Terra Nova-The Peninsulas Liberal candidate Anthony Germain, Conservative candidate Jonathan Rowe, NDP candidate Liam Ryan.
CBC
26-02-2025
- Health
- CBC
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 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 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.
USA Today
18-02-2025
- General
- USA Today
Video shows passenger POV walking out of upside down Delta plane after crash
Video shows passenger POV walking out of upside down Delta plane after crash Show Caption Hide Caption Delta passenger records evacuation after Toronto crash A passenger recorded the moments as people exited a Delta Air Lines plane after it flipped over while landing in Canada. As investigators work to uncover what caused a Delta Air Lines regional jet to flip on its roof while landing at Canada's Toronto Pearson Airport on Monday, passengers have taken to social media to share their experiences of the incident. The passenger jet was carrying 76 passengers and four crew members from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to Toronto when it crash landed around 2:15 p.m. local time, Delta said in a statement, sending 21 people to the hospital with injuries. Two adults and one child were classified as being more seriously injured and were transported to trauma centers and a children's hospital by air ambulance. Nineteen of those hospitalized were released by Tuesday morning, Delta told USA TODAY. One such video, originally shared to Instagram by @eggxit, gives the passenger perspective to what that evacuation looked like. The video begins inside the aircraft, where an employee of the flight is directing passengers to "leave everything" as she ushers them toward the exit. She helps another passenger climb out before the cameraman crawls through the door onto the snowy tarmac below. Walking a few feet from the plane, the cameraman pans the camera back toward the CRJ-900 regional jet, which is charred and stained black as it rests topside down on the frozen ground. More people are helped out of open doors on the side of the aircraft as firefighters spray the wreckage with water from a nearby truck. Shocking videos circling online show the plane coming in for a landing and touching the ground at high speed, causing flames and a dark plume of black smoke to erupt as it slides down the snowy runway before flipping upside down and screeching to a stop. Luckily, most of the plane's occupants were well enough to self-evacuate from the upturned airliner, according to Toronto Airport Fire Chief Todd Aitken. Most were able to exit the wreckage before first responders made it onto the scene. Once paramedics arrived, the majority of injuries were common complaints like back pain, head injuries and headaches, anxiety, vomiting, and nausea due to fuel exposure. The scene is surprisingly calm considering the circumstances - perhaps thanks to the same sense of gratitude expressed by the video's original Instagram caption that reads, "Being alive feels pretty cool today." The Transportation Safety Board of Canada, an agency of the Canadian government, will be in charge of leading the investigation into the cause of the crash, according to the FAA.
