FEDERAL COURT TO REVIEW CIA BRAINWASHING CASE

Montreal Woman Seeking To File Class Action Against Government On
Behalf Of Patients

A Federal Court judge is to review the case of a Montreal woman
unwittingly subjected to Central Intelligence Agency brainwashing
experiments after refusing a federal government application to dismiss
her lawsuit.

Janine Huard, 79, is seeking approval from the court for a class
action lawsuit on behalf of potentially hundreds of patients who were
subjected to the Cold War-era experiments funded jointly by the U.S.
spy agency and the Canadian government.

"First off, I note the plaintiff showed courage and determination in
tackling the United States government and the CIA," Judge Luc
Martineau wrote in a judgment made public this week.

Huard was a mother of four in 1950 when she sought treatment for
weight loss and mild depression from Ewen Cameron at McGill
University's renowned Allan Memorial Institute.

On and off over the next 15 years, Huard was subjected to treatments
that included massive electroshock therapy, experimental pills and
repetitive recorded messages that she was forced to listen to for days
on end.

According to her affidavit, Huard was left unable to care for her
children and had to have her mother move in with her. Huard said she
suffered memory loss and migraines for years.

Huard was one of nine Canadian victims who received nearly $67,000
U.S. each from the CIA in 1988. But her claim for compensation from
the federal government, which jointly funded the experiments, was
rejected three times. Martineau is to decide whether Huard should have
received payment from Ottawa.

If approved as a class action, the lawsuit would apply to other former
patients who were refused federal compensation.

Cameron pioneered techniques he believed could erase harmful memories
without psychiatric defect. The idea intrigued the CIA, which
recruited him to experiment with mind control techniques beginning in
1950.

Until 1964, Cameron conducted experiments at the institute, often
without the knowledge or permission of patients.

Some patients were kept in drug-induced comas for months.

The experiments were part of a larger CIA program called

MK-ULTRA, which saw LSD administered to U.S. prison inmates and
patrons of brothels without their knowledge, according to testimony
before a 1977 U.S. Senate committee.

Martineau noted in his judgment the federal lawyers did not contest
the allegations made by Huard in her application.

"In my opinion, there can be no doubt that, even under the standards
of the era, the depatterning treatment and/or psychic driving
constituted an unjustified attack," he wrote.

"One can equally assume that the patients of Dr. Cameron were in a
state of vulnerability and could not give 'clear' consent for
depatterning and/or psychic driving treatment."

Huard's lawyer, Alan Stein, said Cameron's patients were treated like
guinea pigs and the government should review the cases of all those
people originally denied compensation.

"Why should the government force these people to go to court? It's not
fair," Stein said yesterday.