The Citizens Commission on Human Rights for Canada and the Commission for Victims of Crimes against Humanity held a press conference this week at the Montreal Atwater Library to demand that an independent public investigation be held to shed light on the psychiatrists behind the crimes committed against tens of thousands of Orphans.

Duplessis Orphans along with members of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, the Commission for the Victims of Crimes against Humanity, investigative reporter, Christine Hahn, and human rights lawyer, Alan Stein, assemble for a group photo taken at the press conference held this week at the Montreal Atwater Library. They are demanding that justice be rendered to the Orphans whose basic human rights were violated by psychiatrists.

During the 40s, 50s and 60s, several tens of thousands of young Quebec children - some estimate that this figure could be as high as 100,000 - were sent to orphanages with the promise that they would be well taken care of and well educated. Because of the pressures coming from the mental health industry of Canada and Quebec, those children fell under the psychiatrists who labelled them as "mentally retarded" and they were put under the strain of inhuman living conditions.

Denis Côté, President of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights for Quebec, speaks as one of the invited guests at the Press Conference held this Monday at the Montreal Atwater Library to demand that an independent public investigation be held to have psychiatrists made accountable for the crimes committed against tens of thousands of Duplessis Orphans.

It has been reported that up to 50,000 of them, all normal and innocent children, could have died or could have disappeared in Quebec psychiatric institutions. Tens of thousands of those young children were ill-treated and tortured and an important percentage of them became guinea pigs for psychiatric experiments using experimental drugs, electroshocks and lobotomies.

According to Mrs. Christine Hahn, a Canadian investigation reporter whose researches and reports on the Duplessis Orphans drama were published in the Freedom magazine, «...during the last seven years, I was able to discover an outrageous number of criminal acts committed against this group (the Orphans) and the revelations keep coming up. Beside the well documented physical abuses, I was able to document that those children were used in illegal experiments using chlorpromazine, better known as Largactil. » Mrs. Hahn thinks it is revolting and unacceptable that no psychiatrist who has ‘treated’ those Orphans has ever been blamed, charged or underwent any disciplinary hearing by the medical Board or by the Canadian or Quebec Associations of Psychiatry.

For the Orphans it is nothing less than the crime of the century committed in North America. And they want answers to their urging questions. For example, they want to know how come it has been possible that such a large number of normal and innocent children could have been suddenly treated worst than animals. How many children died or suffered irreparable damage in each of the psychiatric institutions? How many debilitating drugs, electroshocks and lobotomies were given and on how many children and by whom? What sorts of experiments were conducted, who did them and who financed them? Who was aware of those crimes and those human rights violations and sought to conceal them or did nothing? Who benefited from the situation?

According to M. Rod Vienneau of The Commission for the Victims of Crimes against Humanity, « The Orphans have been asking since 1992 that mental illness labels be removed from their medical records. They also call for an independent public investigation to reveal all on this affair and to have those responsible prosecuted. »

According to M. Denis Côté, President of The Citizens Commission for Human Rights of Quebec, psychiatrists and pharmaceutical companies are today, more than ever, being accused of conflict of interest, of making up mental illnesses and of promoting medication for every normal life situation for the sake of profit making at the expense of the mental and physical health of millions of adults and children.

Mr. Côté stated, «The horrible story of the Duplessis Orphans goes on a repeat in Quebec in its new ‘orphanages’, the foster homes and youth centers. According to recent statistics, over 40% of the fostered children would be on more than one psychiatric drug. When the first psychiatric drug brings about its known side effects such as delusions, hostility, suicidal thoughts or heart problems, the psychiatrist will treacherously use those side effects to add new mental illness labels to increase dosage or add a second, then a third, then a fourth psychiatric drug, each one carrying its own important side effects. Those children estranged from their family are turned into zombies without anybody noticing. They are not helped but betrayed.»

Freedom magazine, Mrs. Hahn and The Citizens Commission for Human Rights asks that anyone having information about any psychiatric crimes or violations of human rights to come forward. Their investigation will continue until all the truth has been told and justice has been rendered to the Orphans.

For more information, please contact:

• Denis Côté, President of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, Quebec. Tel.: (418) 802-5462
• Hilary Hurry, President of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, Canada. Tel.: (416) 971-8555
• Rod Vienneau, President of the Commission for the Victims of Crimes against Humanity. Tel: (450) 756-4253
• Nicole Crellin, Public Advisor, Citizens Commission on Human Rights, Toronto. Tel: (416) 388-2542