The story of Nestor

What have become de Duplessis orphans?

Between 1935 and 1964, under the conservative and ultra-religious government of Maurice Duplessis, tens of thousands of Quebec children were placed in nurseries, orphanages and psychiatric hospitals run by the Roman Catholic Church. These children are nicknamed "the Duplessis orphans".

Many of them were illegitimate children; women who had children out of wedlock were stigmatized by society, forced to hide their pregnancies and abandon their newborns to religious communities.
A large number of these children were falsely diagnosed as "mentally retarded" to allow the institutions that housed them to receive additional subsidies. This scandal involves the provincial government of Québec, the federal government of Canada, the Roman Catholic Church and the College of Physicians who conspired together to obtain financial gain without any regard for the well-being of the orphans. Having become "mentally retarded" overnight, these young children did not have the right to an elementary education. Many of them are still illiterate analphabets to this day.

A large part of the Duplessis orphans allege that they were sexually, physically and psychologically abused by the institutions' staff. They were also enslaved and used as guinea pigs during medical experiments in which they were straightjacketed and received excessive medication, electroshocks, lobotomies, etc.
Decades after their nightmarish childhood, having been released from the institutions during the deinstitutionalization in Québec, the Duplessis orphans are among the most vulnerable people in society. Their limited financial resources, lack of relevant education and fragile self-esteems have pushed them to live on the margins. Today they are getting older and are becoming fewer and fewer in their fight to seek justice and reparation. Still, their resilience, strength of character, desire to improve their lives and extraordinary camaraderie are truly inspiring. This photo essay, focussing on Nestor’s story is part of an ongoing project that started in 2022.