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Dateline: 09/16/99
Updated: 12/21/99
NBC DATELINE TO BROADCAST TRAGIC STORY OF QUEBEC'S DUPLESSIS ORPHANS Tuesday, December 21, at 10 p.m. NBC Dateline will broadcast the tragic story
of the Duplessis Orphans. This Award winning NBC network news magazine hosted by
Jane Pauley and Stone Phillips, whose ratings average 15 million viewers, will
report on the plight of the victims. The viewers will learn about the events
which led to the transfer of some 3,000 normal children from orphanages to
psychiatric asylums from 1940 to 1960. This broadcast follows the Quebec
Bishops' refusal to apologize to the victims and Premier Bouchard's refusal to
compensate the victims.
15 million Americans to watch
The Catholic Church in Quebec, after consultation with its bishops, maintained that it has nothing to apologize for in its treatment of the so-called "Duplessis' Orphans".
Nor does the Church intend to give any financial compensation to individuals or contribute to a fund intended to assist the Duplessis' Orphans. The Church states that it has already given much and that it continues to give liberally. Moreover, they are ready to continue the community work they have been doing for years and are willing to help by offering counseling services.
The Church does not intend to apologize because such a gesture would constitute a disavowal of the historical work accomplished under difficult conditions by the religious communities, according to Mgr Pierre Morissette, Bishop of Baie-Comeau and president of l'Assemblée des évêques du Québec (Assembly of Quebec Bishops), Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, archbishop of Montreal, and Mgr Maurice Couture, archbishop of Quebec.
After reading this declaration, the trio of bishops faced a barrage of questions from journalists. The Assembly of Bishops also stated that after the press conference, Mgr Morissette and the Cardinal Turcotte will not make any more statements on this subject.
The Church deferred blame to the families of the Duplessis' Orphans, stating
that to be deprived of contact and affection of the members of one's family
constitutes, in itself, a wound whose scars run very deep. They said that the
Church sympathizes with these orphans who, placed in institutions or given up by
their families, had to live such a childhood.
The approximately 3,000 surviving "Orphans" claim that, as children, they suffered abuse while in the care of religious orders. The alleged incidents took place during the 1930's, '40s and '50s, under the regime of Premier Maurice Duplessis, hence the name, Duplessis' Orphans.
During this period, which became known as la grande noirceur (the great darkness), there was no state-run organization that was responsible for the care of orphans. They were left in the care of the religious orders that ran the orphanages. It is believed that most of the "Orphans" were children born out of wedlock.
Because the Quebec governement could obtain more funding for mental hospitals than orphanages, ($2.75 a head per day instead of $.75), some schools and orphanages were transformed into psychiatric institutions in 1954 in order to qualify for funding from the federal government.
The Duplessis' Orphans claim doctors wrongfully labelled them as insane or mentally deficient and that once placed in psychiatric hospitals, they were treated as mental patients or used as free labour. The "Orphans" say they were subjected to treatments such as straightjackets, electroshock, excessive medication, detainment and even lobotomies! The accounts of physical and sexual abuse are horrific.
The "Orphans" were eventually released with little or no formal education and medical records stating they were insane or retarded. They had little chance for a normal adult life. Many wound up on social assisitance and remain extremely vulnerable.
Now, the "Orphans" are demanding an apology from the Quebec government, the Catholic Church, and the medical profession for the way they were treated. The Bouchard government has already apologized and has offered a $3,000,000 compensation package, which the "Orphans" have refused. They feel that the package, which provides about $1,000 per orphan, is humiliating and insulting.
The Duplessis' Orphans Committee is calling for a public inquiry. The Quebec Ombudsman's office has already stated that the case has merit and the government's offer is inadequate. Based on settlements in similar cases, the "Orphans" compensation should be at least $60 to $100 million. The government has responded by correcting the medical files of those who were wrongfully diagnosed as being mentally ill.
The Church has refused to admit to any wrongdoing. According to Mgr. Cardinal Turcotte, the events have to be taken into the context of the era in which they occured. The Church at the time had the sole responsibility for orphans and the nuns responsible for their care had to work under terrible conditions. If the Church hadn't taken them in, the "Orphans" would have been left to fend for themselves on the street.
The Church maintains that they did their best under trying circumstances. Mgr. Turcotte conceded that possibly normal children were placed in mental hospitals but if misdiagnoses occured, then the medical profession should be held accountable, not the Church.
The Church has offered to give counseling, but the "Orphans" say that's not enough. They are calling for all Catholics to boycott the collection plate, starting Oct. 3rd. Orphans and their supporters will greet parishioners and hand out information fliers. People will be asked to place part of the flier in collection plates instead of money.
After the press conference, Bruno Roy, himself a victim and now a writer and president of the Committee of Institutionalised Duplessis Orphans was livid. "They absolutely refused to apologize and they are assisting in an operation of disinformation. And now they are treating us with contempt." Roy said. "When I think that the Pope has just said that the Church was going to recognize its historical wrongs. Really, there is no doubt, that Quebec is a distinct society."
Roy is one of the few "Orphans" who has managed to cope with his emotional scars. A retired teacher with a doctorate in literature, he was 11 when his orphanage, Mont Providence, was reclassified as an asylum.
Once again, noted Roy, the Church has placed the blame on mothers who threw their children out on the street. However, contends Roy, it was the sermons and the finger-pointing of the Church which caused many unwed mothers, under threat of alienation, to abandon their offspring. "You are sinners!", the women were told.
