Psychiatric Experiments at McGill | US tells Court of Appeals that it is immune from prosecution

(Montreal) A lawyer for the United States government told Quebec’s highest court on Thursday that the country should be safe from prosecution for the infamous brainwashing experiments at McGill University from the 1940s to the 1940s. 1960.

The US government says it cannot be prosecuted over the project known as MK-ULTRA — allegedly funded by the Canadian government and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) — because foreign states enjoyed absolute immunity against prosecution in Canada during this period.

The court case stems from a class action lawsuit filed against McGill University, Montreal’s Royal Victoria Hospital and the Canadian and U.S. governments alleging that Montrealers were given experimental drugs, rounds of electroshock therapy and were deprived of sleep for weeks.

Last August, the Superior Court of Quebec granted a request by the United States government to be removed from the case, and the survivors and their families are appealing this decision.

Class action lawyer Jeff Orenstein says Canada’s 1982 State Immunity Act, which outlines how foreign states can be sued in the country, is retroactive and can apply in this case.

The class action alleges that the Government of Canada funded psychiatric treatment by Dr.^r Ewen Cameron at the Allan Memorial Institute between 1948 and 1964 who was allegedly part of the secret CIA brainwashing program MK-ULTRA.