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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.