24, 1992 -a----- -Th Editor Letters to theEditor Column The Toronto Star One Yonge Street Toronto, ON/M5E lE6 Re Compensationu to Canadian Brainwash SiiFvivors Editor: The $1 00,000 "compeqfation%apayoff the Mulroney government rece ntly awarded Linda Macdonald and other courageous survivors of psychiatrist Ewen Cameron's bra inwashing experiments seriousy insults and grossly underva lues their incredible pain, suffering, losses and p ermanen t disabilities "Brainwash victims to get compensation, " Nov. 18. AlthQugh noThmount of money can begin to make u p for their brain damage and ruined careers directly re s u I t ing from Dr. Cameron's "treatments," the $100,000 figure is a shameful payoff, and I hope some survivors will a ppeal This bar..' minimum amount was first offi cially mentioned a s a recommendation in the Mulroney government's notorious "Cooper Report 1986 which not only whitewashed th e obvious complici ty of the CIA but whitewashed and flatly denied the legal and mon al responsibil i ties of the Canadian government, wh ich largely funded Dr. Cameron's crimes against humanity infli cted on over one h undred unsuspecting Ca nadian inmates in the 1950s and early 1960s. I understand the willingness of the Canadian 5 u rv i v o rs to accept this out-of-court se ttl eme n t after endu ring many years of frustration causjed b yi nexcus ably long government and court delays and r- legal costs. And I am thri 11 ed that survivors such as Linda Macdonald are final ly getting their horrendous stories of great pens onal suffe ring and courage told in the media, including f ilm. But I still resent the fact that the Canadi an government and Canadian Psychiatric Association, tog e then w ith the US Government/CIA and American Psychia tn c Assoc i ati on, conti nue to deny their complicity i-n one of the most horrendous psychi atni c crimes of the 20th century. The fact that similar crimes aganst humanity, under the guise of "treatment" or "restraints", are happening today in virtually every psychiatric facility in e.nn4-' .-1 page two Canada and the USA is also covered up,r simply not reported in the media, much less invcstigatedi Jtts time for some real and long-delayed justice, public investigations, and reparations for the hundreds of thousands of other psychiatric survivors being brainwashed"treate& without their knowledge or consent. Don Weitz psychiatric surv-i vor Toron to Don Weitz 720 Gladstone Ave. Toronto, ON/M6H 334 tel: 416 532-2731 -1 C,- ______ S December 3, Editor/Letters The New York Times Fax # 212-556-4607 Re: Canadian Brainwashed Survivors and Dr. Ewen Cameron Editor: A few comments and one correction re the recent decision of the Canadiangovernment to "comnensate" Linda Macdonald and at least 80 other survivors of psychiatrist Ewen Caermons monstrous brainwashing experiments carried out without consent in the 1950s an ci l960s "Canada to Pay the Victims of Mind-Alterina Treatment," Nov. 19, 1992. The article gives thefalse impression that Dr. Cameron's experiments were mainly influenced or directed by "Western intelligence aqencies" such as the CIA. In fact, Dr. Ca,eron was inflicting massive amounts of electroshock, neuroleotic drugs, and barbiturates--without his patients' "informed consen t"--as part of his "treatment" for "schi zophreni a" When the CIA heard in the 1950s--before any CIA contact about Cameron's "depatterning" metho ds and experiments, they Cameron eagerly and approached him and offered5ffundi ng. knowi']ly a ccepted this CIA money fo r roughly three years 1957-1960 ; it wa 5 fune lIed through the CIA's New Yorkbased front group called The Society For the Investiqation of Ca meron' s inherently unethical and torturous Human Ecolo gy. experiments became part of the CIA's mind-control project code-named MK-UL TRA/Subproject 6R. The CIA didn't need to order or i nfl uence Cameron to brainwash unsuspe cti nq people--he was a lready doing it to his many "neuro tic" and "schizophrenic" patients for many years,xHe simol V took the money and ran--no questions asked JMost were women. By the way, Dr. Cameron died in a mountain ac ci dent in 1967_Lnot "1977" as reported in your article. Another shameful bit of history imnot'tant to rTh me m ber is that neither the American Psychiatric Associati on nor the Canadian Psychiatric Association bothred to criticize or censure Dr. Cameron for his exneriments , which many other psychiatrists had to know were causinri brain damage and cont' d. Don Weitz re Canadian Brainwashed Survivors & Dr. Canieroncont'd - 2 - great psychological harm. The evidence that Cameron was brainwashing/brain-damaginq many of his patients was in several psychiatric journal and medical journal artiples //t3-. /1' -/,,s published in both the Uniiji3I States and CanadaA Obviouslg, the editors of these journals and the executive,sof the American Psychiatric Association and Canadian Psychiatric Association chose to remain silent--they still are silent re Cameron's crimes against hujjiity , which should be comuared to some of the barb3ric medical exoeriments carried out - - in Nazi concentration camps. Yes, Cameron violated the Nuremberg Code Now, the Canadian government has added insult to injury by paying each of the few survivors only l00,OflOrouqhly equivalent to $75,000 US for having their bv7aircmassivelv damaged, their careers wre.itked and lives ruined. How Lconvenient this out-of-court settlement must be for the Canadian government a s 9rvit%Bnt just as it was for a similar settlement awardet%nine Canadians survivors in their suit against the CIA. As a result, neither the Canadian government nor the US government has to admit legal or moral responsibility for their obvious comolicity in and financial support of these psychi atri c1t crimes. So much for osychi atri c justi ce--North Amen can Style! Don Weitz Psychiatric Survivor Toronto Don Weitz 720 Gladstone Ave. Toronto, Ontario M6H 3J4 CANADA tel: 416 532-2731 -
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