Spies and Lies: Cold War Psychiatry, the CIA, and the Case Against Ewen Cameron
A Great Trials Lecture with Prof. Andrea Tone (History and Social Studies of Medicine).
This talk revisits the political, legal, and medical controvery surrounding Ewen Cameron and the CIA-funded research/therapy he did on psychiatric patients at the Allan Memorial Hospital in the 1950s. Â Drawing on newly available records, legal materials, and original oral histories, it seeks to augment our understanding of the controversy itself while shedding light on how what once was called "therapy" was reframed as an actionable and American assault on vulnerable Canadian patients. In addition, the talk wil discuss the importance and challenges of navigating Quebec's new privacy laws, an issue that has implications for all scholars of Quebec.
This lecture has been accredited by the Barreau du Québec for 1 hour of Continuing Legal Education: no. 10060901.
Great Trials III Lecture Series: Private Lives, Public Law
Organized by the Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas (IPLAI), the Great Trials lecture series considers a collection of history-making trials across time and examines the social and political contexts in which they took place as well as their cultural consequences. The series takes the position that ‘law’ happens as much outside the courtroom as it does within it, and that each of these pivotal events stands as testament to the ways in which constructions of authority, law, and justice have informed cultural consciousness across centuries.
Fees: $60 for the series of five lectures, or $15 for individual lectures.
Registration: www.mcgill.ca/iplai/events/great-trials-lecture-series/great-trials-registration
