Families of Montreal brainwashing victims push for right to sue CIA, which funded experiments

It's well documented that the CIA, the American intelligence agency, funded the Montreal brainwashing experiments that forever altered Lana Mills Sowchuk's father and many, many others.

"He was tortured with 54 shock treatments, followed by 54 seizures," Mills Sowchuk said of her father.

He was admitted to the Allan Memorial Hospital in 1952 for asthma, told that he could be cured.

But he was put under the care of Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron, who was working on something known as MK Ultra, a secret experiment funded and sanctioned by the CIA.

By using brainwashing and torture techniques, they hoped to learn more about getting information out of spies.

"He was put in an insulin coma for 36 days with a recording saying 'your mother hates you,'" Mills Sowchuk said.

"They wiped his brain. This is not right. It should not have happened."

Sowchuk is part of a group seeking authorization to sue several bodies in Canada: the Allan Memorial Institute, the MUHC and the Canadian government.

But they also want to pursue their court action against the CIA. A lawyer for the U.S. Attorney General, however, is appealing to have the case against the CIA dismissed.

"Generally speaking, there’s immunity that countries get where they can’t be subject to civil action in other countries," explained lawyer Jeff Orenstein, who's representing the group.

But the victims say Cameron was carrying out human experimentation without his subjects' consent, and anyone aware of this should have stopped it, including the CIA.

They held a protest Wednesday to draw attention to their fight against the U.S. behemoth.

"There’s a lot of people in our case that we think should have intervened, either by not helping or cutting it off," Orenstein said.

"They funded part of the money for these treatments for their own good, to support the military and for political reasons, and they’re trying to get out of it," Sowchuk said.

Even if a judge sides with the CIA, the class action may still be authorized against the other parties.

Most of the victims have died, but their families, who are pursuing the lawsuit, say they're prepared for a long wait -- it's already been many years, and it may take several more before they see results.