Survivors of CIA-linked mind-control tests in Montreal win right to sue McGill, Ottawa

Montreal Gazette

31-07-2025

A Quebec Superior Court judge has authorized a class-action lawsuit against McGill University, the Royal Victoria Hospital, and the federal government over decades-old psychiatric experiments that allegedly left hundreds of patients with permanent psychological damage.
The ruling opens the door for survivors and their families to seek compensation for what they describe as 'unlawful human experimentation' at Montreal's Allan Memorial Institute between 1948 and 1964.
The research was led by Dr. Ewen Cameron, a once-renowned psychiatrist who employed now-discredited techniques such as intensive electroconvulsive therapy, sensory deprivation, drug-induced comas, and repeated audio messages — sometimes between 250,000 and 500,000 times — in a controversial method he called 'depatterning.'
Patients say they were subjected to these treatments without informed consent or even knowing they were part of experimental research.
Justice Dominique Poulin ruled that two applicants, Lana Ponting and Julie Tanny, had presented sufficient evidence that they or their relatives had undergone depatterning treatments at the Allan Memorial. A third applicant, Patricia Edwards Roberge, was not granted representative status, although she and her late mother may still be eligible class members.
The court heard that Tanny's father was admitted to the institute for facial pain in 1957, and underwent drug-induced sleep treatment over several weeks. When he returned home, he was described by his daughter as being in 'a childlike state,' emotionally detached, and volatile. He later died by suicide.
Ponting was 15 years old when she was admitted in 1958, reportedly for being 'disobedient.'
She said that she was given unidentified pills and later underwent electroshock therapy and 'psychic driving.' She says she left the institute with memory loss and long-term psychological impacts, including flashbacks and depression.
The plaintiffs allege that the experiments were enabled by McGill and the Royal Victoria Hospital, and funded in part by the federal government through the Department of National Health and Welfare.
The court found that these claims were sufficiently specific and supported by documentary evidence to allow a class action to proceed.
Justice Poulin also rejected arguments that the action was 'prescribed' — or too old to be heard — adding that the nature of the experiments and the lack of transparency meant many victims could not have discovered what happened until decades later.
The court authorized the plaintiffs to pursue compensatory damages, but denied claims for punitive damages, noting that the events predated the adoption of Quebec's Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.
The case is now expected to move to trial, where the court will decide whether damages should be awarded.
This story was originally published July 31, 2025 at 1:55 PM.