Activists Seek to Halt Construction at Montreal Site Believed to Hold Dark Secrets
A determined group of Indigenous women is fighting to halt construction at a former Montreal hospital site, which they believe may hold the key to uncovering the fate of children lost to a gruesome CIA experiment from over half a century ago.
For the past two years, these women have been striving to delay a construction project spearheaded by McGill University and the Quebec government.
“They took our children and had all kinds of things done to them. They were experimenting on them,” said Kahentinetha, an 85-year-old activist from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, located southwest of Montreal. Kahentinetha, who uses only one name, has been a vocal advocate for this cause.
Hidden truths in unmarked graves
The activists are relying on archival records and testimonies that suggest the site contains unmarked graves of children who were once interned at the Royal Victoria Hospital and the adjacent Allan Memorial Institute, a psychiatric facility. The latter was the setting for MK Ultra, a notorious human experiments program funded by the US Central Intelligence Agency during the 1950s and 1960s.
MK Ultra: A sinister chapter of the cold war
Amidst the Cold War, the MK Ultra program sought to develop methods and drugs for brainwashing individuals. Experiments were conducted across Britain, Canada, and the United States, subjecting people — including Indigenous children in Montreal — to electroshocks, hallucinogenic drugs, and sensory deprivation.
“They wanted to erase us,” Kahentinetha remarked, emphasizing the grave impact of these experiments.
A leading figure in the Indigenous rights movement, Kahentinetha has traveled extensively to denounce colonialism. She describes this battle as “the most important of (her) life.”
“We want to know why they did this and who’s going to take the blame for it,” she said, underscoring the need for accountability.
Legal battles and investigations
In the fall of 2022, the group of mothers secured an injunction to pause work on a new university campus and research center at the site, a project valued at CAD 870 million (USD 643 million). Fellow activist Kwetiio, 52, who also uses only one name, noted that they chose to represent themselves without lawyers, stating, “because in our ways, no one speaks for us.”
Over the summer, sniffer dogs and specialized probes were deployed to search the property’s expansive, dilapidated buildings. These efforts identified three areas of interest for further excavation. However, according to McGill University and the Societe Quebecoise des Infrastructure (SQI), “no human remains have been discovered.”
Accusations of mismanagement
The Mohawk mothers accuse the university and the government infrastructure agency of violating an agreement by selecting the archaeologists who conducted the search and prematurely ending their work.
“They gave themselves the power to lead the investigation of crimes that were potentially committed by their own employees in the past,” stated Philippe Blouin, an anthropologist assisting the mothers.
Despite their appeal being dismissed earlier this month, the women have vowed to persist in their quest for truth and justice.
A nation reckoning with its past
“People should know history, so that it does not repeat itself,” said Kwetiio, stressing the importance of awareness.
In recent years, Canada has begun confronting the atrocities of its past. Generations of Indigenous children were sent to residential schools where they were stripped of their language, culture, and identities. A 2015 truth and reconciliation report deemed these actions as “cultural genocide.”
Between 1831 and 1996, approximately 150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their homes and placed in 139 such schools, with several thousand never returning to their communities. The discovery of unmarked graves of 215 children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia in May 2021 ignited a national reflection on this dark chapter of Canadian history and prompted searches for more graves across the country.
Seeking truth and harmony
“It was not only residential schools, it involved hospitals, sanatoriums, churches and orphanages too,” said Kwetiio. For her, illuminating the past is essential for change and restoring the harmony that existed before colonialism.
As these Indigenous women continue their fight, the world watches closely, recognizing the importance of their struggle for truth, justice, and reconciliation.
