HRC class action gets green light

It never ceases to amaze me how much information is covered up by this newspaper. Yesterday I comment on this item only to have it removed. It was truthfull and not defamatory to any individual but it was disturbing. It supported the victims and their families in their quest for justice. It gave one example of just one went on with abuse of residents by the minority of staff.
The Packet instead of allowing discussion and valid information to it's readers simply deletes. I have been saying for years that Orillia's news organizations are the major impediment of our progress. That is why I began publishing www.speakingout.biz. I have tried to give the Packet another chance to change their ways but it seems there is no intent for them to become anything but an exclusive tool of the backroom boys network. Too bad but realitity is not pretty.
jim tolnai

Sorry Jim, but this is just a way for local lawyers to make a ton of money. There will be little left for the few victims that were actually abused. Most are no longer alive and those that are, do not even know whats going on. The families of these alleged abused are the ones that left their family there to rot in the first place. It was a dumping ground for all the "not normals" from Toronto to North Bay. The huge majority were taken care of and not abused by any of the thousands that worked there for decades. Why wait until it was closed? Why not decades ago when these so called abuses were commited? Why now Jim? GREED Jim,, simple GREED. And really Jim,,, what more would you expect from the P&T.

Finally, there is justice for the residents/clients and their families. Many years ago, people were placed at HRC for various reasons, some appropriate and some not. What would you have done if it you were in this same situation? There were not alot of choices for the families, and they honestly believed this was the best place available at the time. I worked for 22 years at HRC and it was far from an ideal living situation for human beings who were unable to function independently. I am glad that it is finally closed and the residents/clients are now able to finish out their lives with a bit of dignity.

The families who placed their loved ones did not "leave them there to rot!" People were placed there because the families were told that this was the right thing to do by their loved one, and their best chance at life, by trusted physicians. Some people who were placed there had emotional issues, anger issues etc, or simple birth defects and went on to live normal productive lives. Others had more complicated problems. Either way, many residents had no need of hospitalization, and those who did COULD have benefited, were it not for a few disgusting individuals. Families were forced by HRC administration NOT to have contact with their resident "for their own good", and these people were segregated and estranged from their families. Residents were beaten, sexually abused, humiliated, pitted against each other, left in their own filth, locked in tiny rooms for days or more,and treated worse than animals would be. This of course, is not to say ALL or even most employees would participate in such things, or that ALL residents were treated in such a manner. Not one victim has tried to generalize the situation in such a manner. Many victims could not speak for themselves. Many had nobody to tell. More still were simply too afraid and too ashamed to tell. Those tormentors should be held accountable. Many of them are dead, or names long forgotten by victims who spent years trying to forget. But the government itself, and the board for HRC damn well should be held accountable since there are reports going back DECADES describing factual situations and events, by investigators, families and residents alike. They chose to ignore the situation and society's most vulnerable when they needed someone to listen most. Time to be heard.

The US military at AbuGray prison in Iraq used similar techniques to degrade and break prisoners as was used by some on HRC residents as punishment. Here is a description of one such punishment as related by Jack White and his friend Mark who also was a resident.
"If a resident or a number of residents needed punishment one of these punishment went like this. A number of residents were either stripped of their clothing or were ordered to strip themselves. They were made to lie on the floor face down naked. Then those requiring punishment were forced to get down on all fours and cheeks were ordered spread while the punished had to put their noses into the cracks and smell the asses."
The very technique used by US military personell in Iraq to dehumanize just a few years ago. The same technique used by the Nazi's to dehumanize their human victims.
This lawsuit can't get started fast enough to cleanse the stink in the air over that place.
jim tolnai

lala3............I could not have said it better. I am glad that you took the time to try and explain to the general public about what really went on. The whole thing stinks and I hope the people responsible are held accountable. There are still lots of people alive who participated in the neglect/abuse that you have described.