WOMAN LOOKS TO SUE FOR BRAINWASHING AT MCGILL

CIA, Canadian Government Funded Cold War Era Experiments

MONTREAL (CUP) -- Five decades after a McGill University researcher
subjected her to massive electroshocks and experimental drugs, and
forced her to listen to hours of recorded messages, a Montreal woman
is seeking compensation from the Canadian government.

Janine Huard was one of hundreds of people Dr. Ewen Cameron
experimented on without their knowledge in the late 1950s and early
1960s.

Last week, her lawyers argued before a federal court judge that she
should be allowed to file a class-action lawsuit against the
government of Canada, who funded the experiments jointly with the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Cameron first treated Huard in 1951 when she went to see him for
post-partum depression. She continued to see the doctor until 1962,
during which time she served unknowingly as a participant in Cameron's
behaviour-control experiments.

As director of McGill's Allan Memorial Institute, Cameron developed
"psychic driving," a technique that he hoped would cure mental
patients by erasing their memories and constructing a new psyche for
them.

Cameron used electroshock, sensory deprivation and drugs such as LSD
to "depattern" his patients, returning them to a childlike state and
leaving them open to suggestions from recordings played over and over
again while they slept.

His work attracted the attention of the CIA, which, from 1957 to 1960,
funded his research as part of the infamous Project MK-ULTRA, aimed at
developing techniques to control behaviour.

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

Huard received US$67,000 from the CIA in 1988 as compensation for her
suffering, but has been denied similar compensation from the Canadian
government three times on the grounds that she was not fully
depatterned. In 1994, the government handed out $100 000 to each of 77
of Cameron's former patients. Another 253 claims were rejected.

In a book on the experiments first published in 1988, author Anne
Collins supports the government's contention, writing that although
Huard was exposed to electric shock and drugs "to the point that she
had suffered extended periods of involuntary trembling," she was not
actually depatterned.

Alan Stein, Huard's lawyer, disputed this claim.

"In my opinion, [Huard] was totally depatterned. She was subjected to
not only electroshock treatment but also psychic driving," he said.

So far, the court has not decided whether to allow the class-action
suit to proceed. The government is contesting the application on the
grounds that Huard waited too long to file the suit -- Cameron died
more than 40 years ago, and it has been 10 years since the court
rejected her last claim.

But in 2004, the court overturned another decision from 1994, and
awarded Gail Kastner $100 000. Kastner was among the claimants who
were not awarded the federal government's compensation package. Her
treatments were found to be less intense, with fewer long term effects.

Stein was unwilling to express optimism that the court would
ultimately allow the suit to proceed. However, he said that the merits
of the case and the exceptional circumstances surrounding it were
strong enough to justify a decision in Huard's favour. He also
encouraged the public to write letters in support of Huard to Justice
Minister Robert Nicholson.

Stein added that he was surprised and disappointed that McGill has not
made a public statement about the case, or apologized for what
happened to Huard.

At press time, no McGill official would comment on the matter