Narconon Trois-Rivières: Disturbing testimony from former employees

Translation of a French article by mnql1 posted on April 18, 2012 on the website of the Trois-Rivières daily newspaper Le Nouvelliste:
Des constats inquiétants

Narconon Trois-Rivières: Disturbing testimony from former employees

by Paule Vermot Desroches
April 18, 2012



Photo caption: From left to right: Émilie Marin, Sylvain Bérard, Julie Ann Pagé, Odette Poulin,
and Sylvie Houde, former employees of Narconon Trois-Rivières.
(Photo by François Gervais)

(Trois-Rivières) Things weren't sailing very smoothly inside Narconon during the past few months. This, at least, is what emerges from the testimony of Narconon employees who, after their sudden dismissal, felt the need to speak out in public about the situation to Le Nouvelliste.

First and foremost, the employees wished to defend the program offered by Narconon as an effective program that has time and again produced excellent results, but they said that the center's administration left much to be desired and sometimes even endangered the safety of certain residents and employees.

Sylvain Bérard, the Ethics Officer, said that Narconon had already been experiencing financial problems for some time, to such an extent that, in recent months, the organization had even been admitting clients with more serious problems of a psychiatric nature.

"Some of these cases weren't admissible to the program because it requires cutting off their medication. But the administration chose to keep them anyway. There were several instances of attempted suicide during the past few months. By law, immediate medical assistance should have been provided, but management decided to keep these persons without calling for an ambulance," says the former employee.

His colleague, Julie Ann Pagé remembers a female resident who, less than ten days earlier, made at least two suicide attempts in one day, but she was not referred to a hospital. Ms. Pagé says that incidents like this were blamed on the employees for supposedly "not delivering enough."

"We believe in what we are doing, and we do it for the sake of our residents, for the families, because we believe that everyone can be rehabilitated. But we were treated like assholes, as less than nothing," says Julie Ann Pagé, who was responsible for the withdrawal phase at Narconon.

All of the employees gathered around the table said they had received no pay for at least six weeks, and neither had they received the 4% of salary due to them at the termination of employment. Yesterday morning, they went to the labour standards commission office to inquire about their possible recourse.

"There were several times we didn't get paid on time. But they promised us all sorts of things. It was lie after lie. We weren't supposed to talk about it with each other, otherwise we risked getting fired," remembers Sylvie Houde.

Narconon's finances were so badly managed that Julie Ann Pagé and another co-worker were forced to get rid of the center's trash because Narconon couldn't afford to have its garbage bins emptied. Sylvain Bérard also recalls that, in 2009, clients were compelled to eat ground beef for a whole month, even though the clients could spend between $20,000 and $30,000 for their stay.

"We had no right to have a personal opinion. The only thing that mattered was their teaching of Scientology. Don't do to others what you wouldn't want them to do to you. This was one of their internal rules, but they themselves don't apply it. They have no respect for us or for the residents," says Sylvie Houde.

"We're playing with people's lives"

While the Narconon employees were at Le Nouvelliste, one of their cell phones rang. On the line was a woman from the Maritimes who was worried because she hadn't heard from her brother who was in therapy in Trois-Rivières. The man she was referring to had been relocated to the Narconon center in Calgary. His family members had not been notified and no one at Narconon Trois-Rivières was answering the phone to reassure them.

Discouragement was perceptible around the table. "There's no better example to show the kind of management that goes on there. Right now, they're taking away all of the center's records, confidential files they don't want anyone to see because of the crooked way they manage," says Odette Poulin.

Odette Poulin points out that every employee had to sign a contract with Narconon that prohibits them from speaking to the media. "We weren't supposed to reveal anything to the press. We're speaking today anyway for the sake of the parents and the students, but also for the employees. We were treated as less than nothing," says Julie Ann Pagé. "We didn't even get a thank you or a letter of reference," laments Odette Poulin.

Émilie Marin, who resigned from Narconon last March 30, emphasizes however that their criticism of the administration only concerns Narconon Trois-Rivières and does not necessarily apply to the other centers around the world.

Sylvain Girard, for his part, suspects that the Narconon Trois-Rivières administration is now turning to Toronto to open a new center. "I think this is the biggest danger, because they'll open somewhere else in Canada. The whole country needs to be aware of what's happening. As far as the program is concerned, I firmly believe in it. I believe that a person should not be cured of an addiction by taking other drugs. The Narconon program is a logical program. But it was time for the government to close down Narconon Trois-Rivières because psychiatric cases are out of line with our capabilities. The situation had become dangerous," said Mr. Bérard. "We're playing with people's lives," adds Julie Ann Pagé.

Le Nouvelliste tried again to contact the administration of Narconon Trois-Rivières by telephone and by email to offer an opportunity to respond, but without success.

Narconon practices risky, according to regional Health Agency

Translation by mnql1 of a French article posted on April 17, 2012 on the website of radio station 98.5 FM in Montreal:
Des pratiques risquées chez Narconon selon l'Agence régionale

Narconon practices risky, according to regional Health Agency

by Jocelyn Ouellet
April 17, 2012
CKOI 106,9 Mauricie

The Mauricie and Central-Quebec Health and Social Services Agency gave details on Tuesday about the reasons that led it to deny certification to the Narconon Trois-Rivières detoxification center.

The center was ordered to cease its activities and to relocate the twenty-four residents who were there. Seventeen of them were transferred to Narconon centers in the United States. The organization has ten days to send its comments to the Agency, which will then issue a final decision. The center will then have sixty days to contest the decision before the Quebec administrative court.

Of the fifty-five criteria required for certification, the Quebec Accreditation Council identified forty-six deficiencies, twenty-six of them considered high-risk. One of the procedures that represents a health risk is the sauna sweating sessions combined with massive doses of vitamins.

Narconon's methods are based on the teachings of the Church of Scientology, which, according to the Agency, perceives drug addiction as moral depravity and associates it with dishonesty.

Marc Lacour also confirmed that the regional complaints commissioner has received a certain number of complaints about Narconon. Clients who wanted to end their stay prematurely complained that their identity cards, passports, and money were taken and withheld to make departing more complicated.

Closure of Narconon announced

Translation by mnql1 of a French article posted on April 17, 2012 on the website of the Journal de Montréal: Fermeture annoncée pour Narconon

 Quebec is expected to close the detoxification center linked to the controversial Church of Scientology

The Health and Social Services Agency for the Mauricie region met yesterday with the directors of Narconon, a drug detoxification center linked to the controversial Church of Scientology. According to our sources, Quebec is expected to put an end to Narconon's activities.

By Émilie Dubreuil

Spending seven to eight hours a day in a sauna for 21 days, shouting at an ashtray, ingesting massive vitamin doses - this, among other things, is the treatment that Narconon Trois-Rivières offers drug addicts.

This peculiar detoxification method is based on the writings of the founder of the Church of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard.

A typical two-to-three-month stay at Narconon Trois-Rivières costs $23,000.

Many families of drug addicts do not hesitate to invest this amount to help their loved ones deal with their addiction.

Moreover, Narconon Trois-Rivières claims that its success rate is 80%, which is far above average.

Multiple complaints

The center's clientele comes mainly from the United States and English Canada.

The latter is the case for David Edgar Love, who arrived at Narconon Trois-Rivières addicted to cocaine and medications. He emerged one year later weaned off drugs, but completely traumatized.

Since then, with the support of the Anonymous group that campaigns worldwide against the activities of the Church of Scientology, Love has filed multiple formal complaints with the College of Physicians, the Human Rights Commission and the Canada Revenue Agency.

David Love has also organized various protests to draw media attention to Narconon's questionable methods.

Certification

At the same time these efforts were unfolding, the regional Health and Social Services Agency conducted an investigation and met with former dissatisfied patients.

This investigation was part of a certification process for detoxification centers located in the province of Quebec.

This initiative began in Quebec in 2007. It was learned that Narconon employees were offering courses in certain Quebec schools, teaching basic Scientology principles to young students.

The Health and Social Services Agency convened the media this morning to report on this case, but news of the closure had already reached David Love and he is very pleased about it.

"I feel I did my duty," he said.

Narconon: Health Agency feared for the safety of the residents

April 17, 2012 translated by mnql1

The Narconon detoxification center fails to satisfy 42 of the 55 criteria needed to obtain certification from the Quebec Department of Health, 26 of which are deemed high risk factors. This is the assessment presented this morning at a press conference by the Health and Social Services Agency for the Mauricie-Central Quebec region.

The Health Agency brought up several questionable procedures used by Narconon, for example its sudation method combined with massive doses of medications, as well as the absence of medical supervision. Residents spend five or six hours a day in a sauna during twenty-five days. These methods are not recognized by the Quebec Department of Health.

Moreover, some residents have said they were prevented from leaving the center.

Narconon has ten days to send its comments to the Health Agency. Following this, Narconon will have sixty days to contest the decision before the courts. As was previously reported, the Narconon Trois-Rivières detoxification center was forced to shut down because the Quebec Department of Health refused to grant it certification.

More details to come.

Published in Trois-Rivières daily newspaper Le Nouvelliste:
Narconon: l'Agence de santé craignait pour la sécurité des résidents

Signs of winning

In today's Google Taiwan search results, anti-church of Scientology websites occupies half of the 10 entries on front page.  The top entry has always been the Wikipedia page of Scientology.  It is supposed to be neutral but in fact the data in it are overwhelming unfavourable to CoS, making the overall results 6 to 4 against.

More importantly, it is not just the number of websites, we are winning in different fronts - Wikipedia, website, Global and local blog platforms, Youtube, Facebook.

Taiwan is one of the 5 countries in the world that Google isn't the top search engine.  But here Google handles about half of the searches and growing.

Another died in Narconon Arrowhead

On April 11, 2012, Hillary Holten, 21, of Carrolton Texas, was found dead at about 4 a.m. in her room at Narconon Arrowhead. She had been staying at the facility for less than two days when she was found face down on her bed.

Less than six months earlier, in October, the body of Gabriel Graves, 32, of Kingfisher, was also found in his bed at the facility, according to a police report. He had been at Narconon for months.

 

Narconon deaths under investigation

Worse than KONY 2012—Youth for Human Rights International Taiwan

The president of Youth for Human Rights International Mary Shutterworth visited the President of Taiwan.  It was very upstat at first sight but this is right after the presidential election.  It's pay back time.  What else did the President do?  Force eviction of homes for redevelopment.  Big increase in gas and electricity.  And greeted Mary Shutterworth.  Scientology is that unpopular.  And because of the visit, I commented that the church of Scientology is a convicted international criminal organisation, at the Presidential Office online.  The board is moderated and my comment got through.  It's not a big deal but Scientologists can't say "It's not true", "I sue you".

Youth for Human Rights International Taiwan has one full time employee 林佩臻.  The only activity is for her to go to schools and lecture about human rights. Since she does not do press releases, we have not filed complains recently.

They used to have a Human Rights carnival on Human Rights day every year.  It was busted some two years ago.  Then they invited "celebrities" instead to tour universities.  First it was once a year, then every six months and now just three months.  It was as if they want to stop the downward spiral but failed miserably.

All these celebrities are offspring of big donors and dedicated OT's.  There were also some without a single talent who came along.  They don't come any more because they can't do anything and looked like idiots. 

As I predicted, Nikki Lanik can't continue to fake being a formula one driver when nobody hire him to drive any race any more.  Instead, came the bizarre "Hollywood photographer" Felix Kunze, who is actually based in London, and his only photo shoot session with a movie star is, guess who, Juliette Lewis.  I still want to vomit thinking about her recently leaked sex pictures.  He did a session with Catherine Bell recently, before he set off for Taiwan.  But Bell isn't a Hollywood star, all she did was TV shows and TV movies.

As for Dustin McGahee, he claims to be a singer and he can sing, although the biggest run of his album is 300 CD's shipped to Taiwan for sale. I would think a lot are still in the office drawers.  There's nothing to fake but there's not enough pulling power either.  So this time they find another singer to make up a party of three celebrities.  But the trouble is that this singer, 郭育麟, is a wedding singer.  That doesn't stop them from signing autographs and sell them as if they are Hollywood and Nashville stars.  But sooner or later people will realise that Dustin McGahee is not even as good as a wedding singer, and the Hollywood photographer has nothing to do with Hollywood, except for Juliette Lewis that he would rather has nothing to do with.

This year they managed to tour three universities.  Only a few people turned up in one of them, just enough for them to take group pictures.  May be because they brought a wedding singer in the other one, so the crowd was bigger.

The repeat offender is Kun Shan University.  When I made a comment on a Facebook page of this university about the event, my link to the Presidential Office was deleted.  That gave me an option to complain to the highest level.

Also, people are not stupid. Someone were bound to ask, "Human rights ambassadors, can you help with the force eviction for redevelopment?"  The answer should have been, "We are worse than KONY 2012.  We take your money, travel all over, make epic videos, and raise awareness.  But we absolutely don't spend any money on others."

With nothing much to do, these celebrities hijacked a concert.  The location is like Avalon in Catalina Islands, Land's End in Cornwall.  There are pictures of a lot of audiences.  There are videos of our celebrity singing on his own.  The only video with the singer singing in front of some audiences, was probably filmed when they gave him the stage after the concert finished, and there were still some people left who didn't go home yet.

The failure behind Scientology anti-drug events

Protected by Fair Use, Republic of China

 

 

The church of Scientology cannot enter schools to promote Narcanon any more, not even in the Clearwater of Taiwan, 高雄 (Gao Xiong).  You would think that going out in the streets to deliver leaflets is easy.  But it's not as easy as you think.

About 3 days before the event, they sent out an invitation for volunteers to participate in an anti-drug event.  The volunteering organisation is legit, Gao Xiong Youth Volunteer Centre (  高雄市青年志工中心), federally funded.  Managing the centre is a murky Huo Cun Culture and Education Foundation（和春文教基金會).  The administrator of the Facebook page of the Centre is Lin Ying Ming（林英明）.  In the invitation, no sponsor or organisation is mentioned, which is an exception other than the norm.

12 volunteers from various schools attended the event.  I asked if the Church is the sponsor and posted that the Church is an international criminal organisation.  The comments got deleted.  This is not the first time.  But the issue is that I posted the link to the comment I left at Office the President website, that the Church is a convicted international criminal organisation. The feedbacks there are moderated.  So they deleted my comments good enough for the Office of the President, but not good enough for them, while they are a non-profit funded by the government.

Lin Ying Ming should know better because he was a graduate of the School of Political Warfare (政治作戰學校).

They used 12 clueless students to promote their agenda and then published a standard press release saying how great the Church of Scientology is, having solutions to the drug problem.

Perhaps they listened to my advice, using a reputable newspaper for press releases, stating that it is a press release and that the source is the Church of Scientology.

That makes you wonder, how many Scientologists are left at the district of the future Ideal Org of Taiwan?  Are they too ashamed to come out for charity? The scn controversial anti-drug campaign is that much close to annihilation.

The list of volunteers accepted for the event, a total of 12:

和春技術學院-○曉琪、○婉菁、○姿利
復華中學-○澤萱、○家恩
中正高工-○永智
立志中學-○順任、○君增、○瑞庭、○鈺珍、○怡廷、○碩庭

OT8 in Taiwan declare independence from "church" of Scientology

Phil de Fontenay declared independence from the church of Scientology on Rathbun's blog.  For mission holders, there is the SMI to collect money from them for using the tech.  For individuals such as Phil, there is IHELP to collect money from them. (THE INTERNATIONAL HUBBARD ECCLESIASTICAL LEAGUE OF PASTORS).  Phil had been in Taiwan for over ten years.  First they charge his company for delivering SCN service.  They they charge his staff as well.  Now they charge the students for attending service.

Phil was declared for not paying up.  The church enforced Facebook disconnection on him but he has many supporters.  This the first time in Taiwan that Scientologists criticise the church openly and go around spreading their opinions on Facebook.

There are at least 4 OT8's in Taiwan, half are independent.  The other is Helen Chen.  If you disregard the quickie bargain OT8's, the only OT8 left in the church is Mr Wu Ying Ceng.

This is what Phil has to say:

One day people are so friendly and nice and tell you how happy they are to have you as a friend. The next day this other former "friend" tells them they should not be friends with you any more because of one thing or another. Your friend then, without so much as a whimper blindly follows like a rat follows the piper and un-friends you and shuns you as if you had a contagious disease. I don't mind of course because friends like that are not real friends. But, just like the rat happily follows the piper to its death, so follow the closed-minded, following an insane leader to a dark and forbidding future. It's this last part that drives me. I don't want anyone to suffer this fate. Make a stand and do not support insane leaders. Free communication = Freedom and that's all that matters! Adieu!

Criminon Taiwan finished?

April 12, 2012, new Criminon executives announced.  Now the head is the ex-mayor who was responsible for the existence of Narconon in his city in the first place.  Under him are one local Rotary Club high ranking person, and one local chamber of commerce high ranking person.

It looks impressive but none of them are Scientologists.  There can be many speculations but they will not survive the storms from Canada and USA that are coming.  Other than the ex-mayor who can't find any elected office, the others are well connected with public Facebook friends.  It doesn't take much to take them down.  I doubt if they know what they are getting into.

Ex-prison officials are gone.  Perhaps they know what is coming.  I haven't heard about any new Criminon courses held in prisons lately.

I think the whole operation is relatively expensive and funded entirely by the rich Mr Wu Ying Ceng, OT8.  They are running out of Scientologists volunteers and have to hire and train "instructors" to go into prison and teach.
 

週四, 12 四月 2012 01:18

　
  中華民國無犯罪促進會第二屆理事長暨理監事名單
　理事長：葉耀輝
　常務理事：曾鈞蔚、羅源禎
　理事：林珈甄、謝大明、蔡國智、鄭光男、吳銘蒼、陳昭銘
　常務監事：陳玉燕  監事：許耀允、莊景翔

Lisa Marie Presley —— I'm suppressive

Lay down the law, don’t make a sound
Just critical, just going down
I don’t belong, I’ve lost the plot
Not gullible
Can’t be what I’m not

You can think that I’m evil and I’m off the rail
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet
If I don’t get with your system then I'm sure to fail
You ain't seen nothin' yet

Lay down the truth, don’t make a sound
Just a piece of fruit who’s hit the ground
I don’t respond
I’ve lost the plot
Unethical?
Not what I thought

You can think that I’m evil and I’m off the rail
You ain’t seen nothin' yet
I’m a bit transgressive and suppressive as well
You ain't seen nothin' yet

Am I disruption to your corruption?
You ain’t seen nothin' yet

You can think that I’m evil and I'm off the rail
You ain’t seen nothing yet
If I don’t get with your system then I’m sure to fail
You ain’t seen nothin' yet

No longer elated
Now you’re frustrated
You ain’t seen nothin' yet

You can think that I’m evil and I’m off the rail
You ain’t seen nothing yet
If I don’t get with your system then I’m sure to fail
You ain’t seen nothin' yet

You can think that I’m evil and I’m off the rail
You ain’t seen nothin' yet
I’m a bit transgressive and suppressive as well
You ain’t seen nothin' yet

Clear to Eternity - only for $102,850

The fast track 6 month package for Clears, going all the way up to OT7.  Only available from Flag with deep discount.  Is this the final money grabbing scheme? Other than Taiwan, where would they have clears, who decided all of a sudden to go all the way to OT7?  There are other fast and cheap courses strict from Student Hat to Class V auditor.

 A Letter From Cristian Landivar

Scientology Chairman David Miscavige Killed Lisa McPherson

David Miscavige can always come out and testify to it under oath.  There are other witnesses who will always turn up to join the party wherever COB is.

David Miscavige Killed Lisa McPherson by Marty Ruthbun April 5, 2012