'The Family - The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power' by Jeff Sharlet

[Jan Klimkowski]

The president of Latvia was for years this Canadian Latvian woman who seemed to be a foundation creature.

The following may have no significance whatsoever.

However, I would interested in learning more of the former Latvian president's work on experimental psychology and memory, conducted at McGill University, at a crucial time in that institution's history.

Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga was born Vaira Vīķe on 1 December 1937 in Riga, Latvia. At the end of 1944, as Soviet occupation of Latvia begun, Vīķe's parents escaped to Nazi Germany. There she received her first education in Latvian primary school at refugee camp in Lübeck, Germany.

Upon graduation, Vīķe became a clinical psychologist at the Toronto Psychiatric Hospital in late 1960. She left in 1961 to resume her education at the McGill University in Montreal while also lecturing part-time at Concordia University. She earned her PhD in experimental psychology, graduating from the university in 1965.

Donald Ewen Cameron (1901-1967) was a Scottish-American psychiatrist. Born in Bridge of Allan, he graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1924.

Cameron lived and worked in Albany, New York, and was involved in experiments in Canada for Project MKULTRA, a United States based CIA-directed mind control program which eventually led to the publication of the KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation manual.

Cameron was the author of the psychic driving concept which the CIA found particularly interesting. In it he described his theory on correcting madness, which consisted of erasing existing memories and rebuilding the psyche completely. After being recruited by the CIA, he commuted to Montreal every week to work at the Allan Memorial Institute of the McGill University, and was paid $69,000 from 1957 to 1964 to carry out MKULTRA experiments there.

In 1965, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga took the post of Professor of Psychology at the University of Montreal where she taught psychopharmacology, psycholinguistics, scientific theories, experimental methods, language and cognitive processes (in French). Whilst working at the University, Vīķe-Freiberga also researched memory processes and language as well as producing several papers on the problems and influences of drugs on the mind. She became a well-known figure on the political speaking circuit and often spoke on radio, TV or in schools in English, French and Latvian. Vīķe served on many councils and organisations in high positions. These include:

Member of the Post-doctoral Fellowship Selection Committee of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (1975–78)
Member of the Board of Directors of the Social Science Federation of Canada (1977–82). She served as President from 1980 to 1981.
Member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Psychological Association (1976–82). She was President from 1980 to 1981.
Appointed Canadian member and Chair of the Special Panel on Human Factors of the NATO Scientific programme in Brussels (1978–81)
Member of the Board and Executive Committee of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities (1980–82)
Member and president of organising committees of various national and international symposia and conferences (1982–86)
Member of the Consultative committee on Mental Health Research, Health and Welfare Canada (1983–86)
Member of the Board of Directors of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (1982–88). She was President from 1984 to 1986.
Member of the Science Council of Canada (1980–83). She appointed Vice-President in 1984 by the Governor-General of Canada and served in the position until 1989.
In 1994, she was appointed a Member of Council and later President of the Academy of the Royal Society of Canada. She ceased all activity with this organisation in 1999. She was also a Member of the Killam Research Fellowships and Prizes Selection Committee from 1995-1998. Vīķe-Freiberga served on the Canadian governmental consultative committee on the disposal of nuclear waste in 1996 but continued to teach at the University of Montreal. In June 1998, she was made a Professor Emerita and took this opportunity to return to Latvia.