In Montreal, a group of Indigenous women are working to halt construction at a former hospital site they believe may contain unmarked graves of children subjected to a disturbing CIA experiment from the 1950s and 1960s.
For the past two years, these activists have sought to delay a major construction project by McGill University and the Quebec government. “They took our children and subjected them to experiments,” said Kahentinetha, an 85-year-old activist from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake.
The activists are drawing on archives and testimonies suggesting that the Royal Victoria Hospital and the adjacent Allan Memorial Institute, where the experiments took place, could hold the remains of Indigenous children. These experiments were part of the MK Ultra program, a CIA-funded initiative aimed at developing methods for brainwashing during the Cold War. The program involved subjecting individuals, including Indigenous children in Montreal, to electroshock therapy, hallucinogenic drugs, and sensory deprivation.
Kahentinetha, who has traveled internationally to speak out against colonialism, calls this struggle “the most important of my life.” She demands accountability and answers about why these experiments were conducted and who should be held responsible.
In the fall of 2022, the activists secured an injunction to halt work on a new university campus and research center at the site, a project valued at CAD $870 million. They conducted their own investigation, using sniffer dogs and probes to identify three areas of interest for potential excavation.
However, McGill University and the Quebec government’s Societe Quebecoise des Infrastructure (SQI) claim no human remains have been found. The activists accuse the university and SQI of breaching agreements and prematurely ending the investigation. Anthropologist Philippe Blouin, working with the activists, criticized the agencies for investigating potential crimes committed by their own predecessors.
Despite a recent dismissal of their appeal, the activists remain determined. “People need to know history to prevent it from repeating,” said Kwetiio, another activist involved in the effort.
