CBC Archives

You must sign in to leave a comment on this clip.

A dark history revealed

Broadcast Date: Aug. 14, 1992

Born out of wedlock and deemed "children of sin," thousands of Quebec children were cut off from society and sent to orphanages during the 1940s and 1950s. Many were improperly diagnosed as mentally incompetent. The diagnosis would be a lifelong sentence; the orphans endured a difficult and sometimes abusive childhood. Fifty years later, the orphans who are now in their 40s and 50s have organized and are seeking compensation. With each day, more and more people are coming forward with claims of abuse, as reported in this CBC Radio clip.

A dark history revealed

• In an interview with the Montreal Gazette, Duplessis Orphan Hervé Bertrand recalled the day he was improperly diagnosed. He was a third grade student at the Mount Providence orphanage in 1955 when Dr. Bernard Piché paid a visit to his class. "Until that day we were all considered normal," he told reporter Janet Bagnall. "I was asked what the word 'compare' meant. I didn't know. We hadn't studied it yet. That's how it was decided that I was retarded."

• From that day forward, Bertrand and many other children were pulled from their classes. Genuine psychiatric patients moved into the converted orphanages and lived side by side with the children. Some children were sent out to work with farmers while other children performed maintenance within the hospitals. Bertrand recalled harsh discipline if he refused his orders. "I was beaten, I was tied up, I was made to work," he told the Toronto Star in an article Aug. 15, 1992.

• The estimated number of Duplessis Orphans ranges enormously from 1,500 to 20,000 according to source. Some argue that those who were misdiagnosed as mentally retarded were technically Duplessis Orphans. Others say the group should include all orphans during this time period.

• Between 1945 and 1960, the federal government paid out 70 cents a day per orphan to orphanages. Psychiatric hospitals received a subsidy of $2.25 per day, per patient. — as reported in the Gazette, July 4, 2002
• Many of the Duplessis Orphans were in fact not orphans but simply children born out of wedlock or to extremely poor families.

• A 1961 commission on Quebec's psychiatric hospitals uncovered a startling figure. More than one-third of the 22,000 patients didn't belong in a psychiatric institution. Illegitimate children comprised the majority of those incorrectly diagnosed.

• Maurice Duplessis was premier of Quebec from 1936-39 and 1944-59. Duplessis was not personally implicated in the plight of the Orphans but their institutionalization did transpire under his leadership and his authorization. His term has been derisively referred to as la grande noirceur, the great darkness, because of his iron-fisted rule. For more, please visit our topic on Maurice Duplessis.

A dark history revealed

Medium: Radio

Program: Canada at Five

Broadcast Date: Aug. 14, 1992

Guest(s): Etienne Lapointe

Reporter: Laurent Lavigne

Duration: 1:55

Last updated:
April 7, 2005