For many years I took delegations and groups of cured patients to the Department of Health, always accompanied by doctors, the Mayor and members of the Council, asking that my treatment be recognised.
This Bill was presented by the Honourable Leopold McCaulley and J Frank Kelly, Liberal Member of Parliament. Three hundred patients, my Pastor, the Mayors of Bracebridge and Huntsville and many prominent citizens accompanied me to the Legislature where my Bill and petitions were presented to a Legislative Committee of fifty-nine members.
In spite of all the evidence I had, I lost out by three votes. It was because of this Bill that the first "Royal Cancer Commission of Ontario" was formed. (It came to light that the CMA had debated my case with the Legislature before my hearing and had promised that if the Bill was not passed, they would set up a Commission and give my " Essiac" treatment a fair investigation).
It is my opinion that the hearing of my case before the Cancer Commission was one of the greatest farces ever perpetrated in the history of man. Over three hundred and eighty patients came to be heard and the Commission limited the Hearing to forty-nine patients. Then, in their report, stated that I had only taken forty-nine patients to be heard, that x-ray reports were not acceptable as a diagnosis, and that the forty-nine doctors had made wrong or mistaken diagnoses. It is a sad state of affairs if doctors can diagnose an affliction as "Cancer" and send the patients home with a few months (at most) to live, if they are not sure.
In the forty-nine cases examined by the Ontario Cancer Commission, the majority of these had more than the diagnosis of one doctor; some of them had three or four doctors and were told they had cancer and were treated for malignancy before coming to me for " Essiac" treatment.
The Cancer Commission, at the hearing, admitted that every patient presented had benefited or had been cured by " Essiac"; many of them with pathological findings and reports - but they said that the doctors had all been mistaken in diagnosing the cases. Over three hundred patients were waiting to be heard, but the Commission stated that they had seen enough to give a report.
They made a big thing of my not giving my formula, but did not state that I had for years been offering to give it to them, provided they would admit some merit for " Essiac" on the clinical proof I presented and assure me that it would be used. Under these conditions, I would have gladly given it to them, but they would not give me any assurance that it would not be shelved, so I kept my secret and they just published the bald statement that I "refused to give up the formula."
Dr Emma M Carson, MD of Los Angeles examined over four hundred patients at my clinic and in her letter for publication said:
"Several prominent physicians and surgeons who are quite familiar with the indisputable results obtained in response to " Essiac" treatments and who have also asserted their intense interest in cancer research work, conceded to me that the Rene M Caisse " Essiac" treatment is the most humane, satisfactory and frequently successful remedy for the annihilation of cancer that they had found up to this time."
Dr B L Guyatt, MD Curator, and Instructor of Anatomy at the University of Toronto, Ont., followed my work for over three years, coming frequently to the clinic and examined patients. I will quote from his letter:
"The first and most noticeable response observed in this "Caisse Clinic" waiting room , is the cheerfulness and optimism of treated patients. This fascinated me - the treatment received, appeared to be attacking the disability from the angle which had greatly interested me. In most cases, distorted countenances became normal and pain was reduced as treatment proceeded. The relief from pain is a noticeable feature, as pain in these cases is very difficult to control. On checking authentic cancer cases, it was found that haemorrhage was readily brought under control in many difficult cases. Open lesions of lip and breast responded to treatment. Cancers of the cervix, rectum and bladder had been caused to disappear. Patients with cancer of the stomach, diagnosed by reputable physicians and surgeons have returned to normal activity. The number of patients treated in this clinic are many hundreds and the number responding wholly or in part, I do not know, but I do know that I have witnessed in this Clinic, a treatment which brings about restoration, through destroying the tumour tissue and supplying that something which improves the mental outlook of life and facilitates re-establishment of physiological function. It is my privilege to do all in my power to bring the cancer sufferer, this remedy " Essiac", which has brought relief and restored health to many in the past."
Dr Guyatt visited my clinic at Bracebridge almost every month for a period of three years, but in spite of these good reports and the petitions signed by the doctors, the Commission reported that they had found no benefit in the treatment. I asked for a hearing by the Registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons and had an answer saying that if I treated any more patients, they would take me to court.
