In March 2000, I joined forces with feature documentary film director, William Gazecki (best known for his film, ‘Waco: The Rules of Engagement’) to tell the story of ‘The Orphans of Duplessis’ – the tragic legacy of more than 5,000 normal children interned in psychiatric asylums in 1940′s-50′s Quebec.
On March 18, 1954, Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis signed an Order in Council officially turning 10 orphanages into psychiatric asylums. Institutions were in debt and rather than drawing from provincial coffers, Duplessis altered the vocation of the institutions in order to access federal funds.
Thousands of normal children - born-out-of-wedlock and considered ‘children of sin’ – were interned in orphanages-turned-psychiatric asylums run by the Catholic church. They were falsely diagnosed as ‘mentally deficient’ or ‘mentally retarded’ so that the institutions could receive higher (per diem) financial compensation per child.
Normal children were treated as if they were mentally ill – subjected to behavior modification therapies of the day – ice cold baths, injections of ‘Largactil’ (today known as Thorazine and Chlorpromazine – drugs for schizophrenia), isolation cells, electroshock, and in rare cases, lobotomies. Many were sexually and physically abused.
Over the course of two years, we traveled to Montreal to meet and interview adult survivors, doctors, researchers, nuns, and others. Interviews were conducted mostly in French — all the ‘Orphan’ survivors were French speaking.
It was a challenging, heart-wrenching, humbling experience. Interviewing the adult orphans was like listening to hours of torture testimony. In order to get through the days and days of heart-wrenching stories, I began to pray, in earnest. I prayed for strength. I prayed for understanding. I prayed for the orphans. I prayed for compassion. I prayed for the nuns and for the Church.
Our research and appeals to the Catholic Church took us as far as the Vatican. In May 2002, I traveled to Italy to meet with a well-respected activist and Franciscan monk who had agreed to help us in our quest.
As filmmakers, we were seeking the highest path possible. We were striving for accuracy and a comprehensive understanding of our subject. We knew that compassion was central to the truth. We were seeking the leadership of the Church. We were interested in exploring themes of forgiveness, apology, truth and reconciliation.
We recognized that the adult survivors included aging nuns and members of the religious orders who had presided over the care of these children and gave their lives in service to the Church. We understood that they could not be forgotten in our story. ( We learned in fact, that many of them considered themselves ‘victims’ – uneducated, untrained, and overwhelmed by the thousands of children in their care.) We also understood there were caretakers – secular workers – who did ‘their job’ in service to the conventions of the time. We knew there were infinite cruelties that had taken place – as incomprehensible then as now. But we also knew that this story had to be told in context – in relationship to the consciousness of the times.
Our central question was this: If we look ahead 50 years from now, how many hearts could be touched and changed because of the manner in which this story is told? What healing, rapprochement, reconciliation could take place if The Catholic Church stepped forward, addressed the past and honored the virtues it so espouses?
It seemed a radical idea at the time – perhaps not so radical now.
Our film was never completed. It remains a story to be told.
~ Christiane Schull
Please view our trailer on Vimeo, produced to promote our film: http://vimeo.com/36992594
Photo: Italy, 2002 -
Thank you to Ric Rogers.
