24, 1992
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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
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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
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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
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great psychological harm. The evidence that Cameron was
brainwashing/brain-damaginq many of his patients was in
several psychiatric journal and medical journal artiples
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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
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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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