The Story of ESSIAC® byRene M. Caisse, R.N.

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Every few years I would make an appointment with whoever was then "The Honourable the Minister of Health for Ontario" and would attend with a group of patients and a petition. First, Dr. Robb, then Dr. Faulkner and The Honourable Harold Kirby. Each year the group of patients would be more numerous, and the petitions would carry more names.

The last petition was presented in 1938 with a bill requesting our government to legalize my ESSIAC treatment.

This bill was presented to the 2nd Session of the 20th Legislature of Ontario, 1938, for:
"An act to authorize Rene Caisse to practice medicine in the Province of Ontario in the treatment of cancer and conditions resulting therefrom."

Attached to the bill were petitions bearing names of more than fifty-five thousand (55,000) persons who were in favour of its passage. Of this number, three hundred and eighty-seven (387) were patients, and many were doctors.

The bill was sponsored by two members of the provincial legislature from opposing political parties -- Mr. J. Frank Kelly, a member of the Liberal Party and Mr. Leopold McCaulley, a member of the Conservative Party. There were 59 voting members in the legislature and the bill failed by only three votes. It would have authorized the practice of the treatment of cancer without a medical rating. This was a position never before heard of in the conservative history of Canada.

I learned later that this unusual bill, authorizing me to practice medicine in the treatment of cancer, would, no doubt, have actually been approved by the Legislature, except that members of the medical profession assured the members that if the bill was not passed they would then sponsor the appointment of a "Cancer Commission" to give my treatment a fair hearing.

NOTE: It came to light later that the Canadian Medical Association had debated my case with the Legislature before my hearing and had made this false promise.

Soon after the hearing of my bill, the Legislature passed:
"AN ACT FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF REMEDIES FOR CANCER"

This act established the Cancer Commission and among other things, provided that:
"The Commission may require any person who advertises, offers for sale, holds out, distributes, sells or advertises either free of charge or for gain, hire or hope of reward, any substance or method of treatment as a remedy for cancer, to submit samples of such substance or a description of such treatment, and samples of such substance used with such treatment to the Commission together with the formula of such substance and such other information pertaining to such substance or method of treatment as the Commission may determine.

I immediately closed my clinic, and reopened it only at the urgent request of the Minister of Health, The Honourable Harold J. Kirby and the Premier of Ontario, The Honourable Mitchell Hepburn.

The Honourable Mitchell Hepburn said at the time this Act was passed: "The onus is on the medical profession now. They must either prove or disprove Miss Caisse’s claims, and I do not believe they can disprove them. I am in sympathy with Miss Caisse’s work and will do all in my power to help her."

The Premier answered an inquiry from Mrs. Wilfred Raney, of Sunbridge, Ohio, about my treatment, stating that I could "Carry on" as in the past. From the "Office of the Prime Minister of Ontario" and dated June 8, 1938, it read:
Dear Mrs. Raney:
In reply to your letter of recent date relative to Miss Rene M. Caisse’s cancer cure, I wish to advise you that the Commission for the investigation of so-called cancer cures has not been set up as yet. Miss Caisse is in the same position today as she was prior to the passing of An Act for the Investigation of the Remedies for Cancer. There has been no interference whatever by the department of health, nor by any department of the government.

The Minister of Health and the Deputy Minister have personally interviewed Miss Caisse, and she has been advised that she can carry on her treatment in the meantime the same as she has done in the past.

With kind regards, I remain yours very sincerely
(Signed Mitchell Hepburn)

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