Rod Vienneau has a smoking gun.
The Joliette country singer-turned Duplessis Orphans' rights advocate, has a government document making reference to government payments of $300,000 per annum which went to the Duplessis Orphans Committee administered by Bruno Roy.
For those who missed the movie, DOs were children illegally sent to insane asylums in the 40s and 50sand falsely diagnosed as mentally ill as a provincial scam to score more money in federal grants.
Decades after they were raised in such a debilitating environment where many never learned to read or were allowed outside, they were issued a payment. They had been promised an apology and a clearing of their medical records but never got it. The compensation was ridiculously shabby. The $10,000, plus one thousand per year held inside is a joke in comparison to victims of other such cases of abuse.
Many pointed out that the professionals surrounding the case - lawyer, PR guy, president and provincial bureaucrats, bagged a lot more money than the actual victims.
The document that Vienneau has produced - numbered 699-99 dated 16 June, 1999 - details payments that Orphans Committee chief Bruno Roy would receive from a variety of provincial ministries.
Committee Chief Roy (that's him in the black and white photo) was later eventually accused of successfully pressuring the
The Joliette country singer-turned Duplessis Orphans' rights advocate, has a government document making reference to government payments of $300,000 per annum which went to the Duplessis Orphans Committee administered by Bruno Roy.
For those who missed the movie, DOs were children illegally sent to insane asylums in the 40s and 50sand falsely diagnosed as mentally ill as a provincial scam to score more money in federal grants.
Decades after they were raised in such a debilitating environment where many never learned to read or were allowed outside, they were issued a payment. They had been promised an apology and a clearing of their medical records but never got it. The compensation was ridiculously shabby. The $10,000, plus one thousand per year held inside is a joke in comparison to victims of other such cases of abuse.
Many pointed out that the professionals surrounding the case - lawyer, PR guy, president and provincial bureaucrats, bagged a lot more money than the actual victims.
The document that Vienneau has produced - numbered 699-99 dated 16 June, 1999 - details payments that Orphans Committee chief Bruno Roy would receive from a variety of provincial ministries.
Committee Chief Roy (that's him in the black and white photo) was later eventually accused of successfully pressuring the
vulnerable orphans to accept a far-too-low offer.
Vienneau says that nobody was told about this $300,000 per year and he questions how it was put to use. He notes that the committee once even complained that it was so skint it couldn't afford its regular Christmas dinner for the 40 or 50 adult orphans.
Vienneau says he learned about the $300,000 deep within a package of legal documents sent to him by Roy who was unhappy with Vienneau's attempts to have him replaced as committee chief.
Vienneau is still trying to get an explanation as to who got the money and what they did with it. Stay tuned for further details.
Dear Kristian,
ReplyDeleteYour article on Rod Vienneau's recent exposure of yet another example of financial abuses against the Duplessis Orphans is so sad.
Please continue your great work.
The psychiatrists who masterminded these abusive and inhumane violations of human rights must be brought to justice.
We are looking forward to more developments on this story.
Nicole Crellin