1940's Experiment: Canadian Government Withheld Food From Hungry Aboriginal Kids

Many nations are known to have done some pretty nasty things to their Natives as they created "The New World" so it's no surprise to most of us that Canada also took part in mistreating their aboriginals. The mistreatment of our Natives went on for hundreds of years. Thankfully things aren't as bad as they used to be but there is still room for improvement.

Research has recently uncovered that the Candadian government witheld food from Native children (and adults) just to conduct "nutritional experiments". Yes, I admit we have done much worse, but this is still very despicable and it pains me to know that our government were up to this in our not so distant past.

Recently published historical research says hungry aboriginal children and adults were once used as unwitting subjects in nutritional experiments by Canadian government bureaucrats.

“This was the hardest thing I’ve ever written,” said Ian Mosby, who has revealed new details about one of the least-known but perhaps most disturbing aspects of government policy toward aboriginals immediately after the Second World War.

Mosby – whose work at the University of Guelph focuses on the history of food in Canada – was researching the development of health policy when he ran across something strange.

“I started to find vague references to studies conducted on ‘Indians’ that piqued my interest and seemed potentially problematic, to say the least,” he said. “I went on a search to find out what was going on.”

Government documents eventually revealed a long-standing, government-run experiment that came to span the entire country and involved at least 1,300 aboriginals, most of them children.

It began with a 1942 visit by government researchers to a number of remote reserve communities in northern Manitoba, including places such as The Pas and Norway House.

They found people who were hungry, beggared by a combination of the collapsing fur trade and declining government support. They also found a demoralized population marked by, in the words of the researchers, “shiftlessness, indolence, improvidence and inertia.”

The researchers suggested those problems – “so long regarded as inherent or hereditary traits in the Indian race” – were in fact the results of malnutrition.

Instead of recommending an increase in support, the researchers decided that isolated, dependent, hungry people would be ideal subjects for tests on the effects of different diets.

“This is a period of scientific uncertainty around nutrition,” said Mosby. “Vitamins and minerals had really only been discovered during the interwar period.

“In the 1940s, there were a lot of questions about what are human requirements for vitamins. Malnourished aboriginal people became viewed as possible means of testing these theories.”

The first experiment began in 1942 on 300 Norway House Cree. Of that group, 125 were selected to receive vitamin supplements which were withheld from the rest.

At the time, researchers calculated the local people were living on less than 1,500 calories a day. Normal, healthy adults generally require at least 2,000.

“The research team was well aware that these vitamin supplements only addressed a small part of the problem,” Mosby writes. “The experiment seems to have been driven, at least in part, by the nutrition experts’ desire to test their theories on a ready-made ‘laboratory’ populated with already malnourished human experimental subjects.”

The research spread. In 1947, plans were developed for research on about 1,000 hungry aboriginal children in six residential schools in Port Alberni, B.C.; Kenora, Ont.; Schubenacadie, N.S.; and Lethbridge, Alta.

One school deliberately held milk rations for two years to less than half the recommended amount to get a ‘baseline’ reading for when the allowance was increased. At another, children were divided into one group that received vitamin, iron and iodine supplements and one that didn’t.

One school depressed levels of vitamin B1 to create another baseline before levels were boosted. A special enriched flour that couldn’t legally be sold elsewhere in Canada under food adulteration laws was used on children at another school.

And, so that all the results could be properly measured, one school was allowed none of those supplements.

Many dental services were withdrawn from participating schools during that time. Gum health was an important measuring tool for scientists and they didn’t want treatments on children’s teeth distorting results.

www.theglobeandmail.com...

I find it a bit more than coincidental that this began immediately after WW2 which is when many top level Nazis scientists among others skill sets were brought to North America. One example is Operation Paper Clip, many of these Nazis became important parts of NASA and the CIA. They came to Canada too as we were instrumental in developing technologies. This is just a side note, and speculation on my behalf but I believe it needed to be pointed out. The Nazis were heavily into eugenics, and so was the American government, and it's quite obvious that the Canadian government was too regarding their treatment of our Natives.

Anyone who would purposely deprive a child of nutrition for experimental purposes has to be mentally ill, evil, or maybe both. All I can say is that we must start learning from our mistakes so we may quit repeating them. As we speak there are many regions on this planet where similar experiments are being allowed on people who others seem to think are inferior.

Let's hope that one day no living being will ever have to suffer this type of evil ever again.

This is a sad example of the treatments done by governments to find out "scientific" information, their basis is that we have to find out this information anyway, so we'll just use the disenfranchised... what are they going to do eh?

No different than the Tuskegee experiment, or when they hit pregnant women with radiation to study potential birth effects. Countless cases like this done by different governments around the world, stuff like this is not only done by Western Governments, thought mostly i suspect.

Unfortunately, many so-called "developed" countries have dark histories in relation to this issue. The justifications and motives may vary from nation to nation, but the means typically were the same, in that a specific group was subjected to unfair, immoral, unjust and controversial practices.

I find it a bit more than coincidental that this began immediately after WW2 which is when many top level Nazis scientists among others skill sets were brought to North America. One example is Operation Paper Clip, many of these Nazis became important parts of NASA and the CIA. They came to Canada too as we were instrumental in developing technologies. This is just a side note, and speculation on my behalf but I believe it needed to be pointed out. The Nazis were heavily into eugenics, and so was the American government, and it's quite obvious that the Canadian was too regarding their treatment of our Natives.

Though I am quite certain that certain Nazi research practices were learned, developed and applied post WWII by other nations, I am unaware of any research that was conducted that was as controversial and border line sadistic as those of Josef Rudolf Mengele.

However his research did set a precedence for state sanctioned human experimentation.

The most troubling part of this article is that this revelation has taken so long to come to light. Hopefully we can learn from past mistakes and injustices and seek progress and development through legitimate and moral means. But i will conclude this by saying the world is not a pleasant place and it is full of instances as mentioned in the OP, with countless variations.

Do the ends still justify the means?

It's all OK to use First Nations people in experiments._javascript:icon('')
You see we are wards of the state. We are the only people in the world (I think) who are identified by legislation.
We have a government department whose mandate is to deal with Indian affairs.
We carry numbered identity cards issued by the government.
We did not get the vote in Canada until 1960.

I could go on but enough for now.
The government also did forced sterilization of some First Nations kids in residential schools.
I does not surprise me that these experiments occurred.
I bet the government got their results confirming that First Nations people were, and many still are, facing poor nutrition on a daily basis and the government hid the results to avoid doing something about it.

This is probably the tip of the iceberg.

People complain about legislation and too much red tape in relation to scientific studies

However if it prevents things like this then I wouldn't have it any other way.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed

This is just a side note, and speculation on my behalf but I believe it needed to be pointed out. The Nazis were heavily into eugenics, and so was the American government, and it's quite obvious that the Canadian was too regarding their treatment of our Natives.

Not entirely speculation, Nazi scienists working on eugenics and I believe even some types of mind control were indeed here in Canada, Quebec if I remember correctly.

Sad and disgusting the more I learn about some of the things my country has done the harder it is to be proud.

You know what is really sad? Most canadians know more about black slavery in america, than they know about the treatment of my people. A whole lot of people didn't even know about those "schools", and the last one was shut down in the 90's...... So it's not like they have the excuse that it happened generations ago.

Criminal charges can still be brought and should be, against anyone living that was a part of this.

Originally posted by TKDRL
You know what is really sad? Most canadians know more about black slavery in america, than they know about the treatment of my people. A whole lot of people didn't even know about those "schools", and the last one was shut down in the 90's...... So it's not like they have the excuse that it happened generations ago.

I'm not sure if that is the case. Maybe things have changed? When I was in junior high (I'm 33 now), We had an entire unit in social studies dedicated to the subject of native culture and history, and a good portion of that unit was dedicated to teaching kids about the injustices visited upon native communities in the past. As far as I can tell, a lot of white Canadians are aware of what happened, but perhaps ignorant to the extent of the injustices. Being white myself and having a native girlfriend (and thus mixed race daughter), I have seen a lot of ignorance on the issue from both cultures.

Either way, truly a black mark on our history as a nation. People are still living with open wounds from the past, and I suspect it will be some time before they heal. Sadly, I can't say that I am at all surprised by this "new" information, but I am still appalled.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


Sadly this is the truth, humanity never learns from it's mistakes as it soon forgets all about them.
This is horrendous and Thank you for bringing it to attention.

Such scientists usually justify such experiments by touting the possibilities and working from human databases of "undesirables." Could be your I.Q., could be your skin color, could be your profession, could be you're a threat to their shenanigans. You know; undesirables.

Then, to add insult, most of the information learned winds up being used by some dark pocket of the military-industrial complex.

Why do people think that our governments aren't conducting even more elaborate experiments these days that will be un-covered in the decades to come?

Actually, the sad thing about stories like this is that I bet we ALL are involved in some kind of experiment.

This story brings to mind several things:

God is good.

Do onto others...

All men are created equal.

Help those in need.

Honesty is the best policy

Your right to food ends when I have the food.

What you don't know can hurt you.

White is right.

Bless the weak, the needy, the impoverished, but not with food or honesty.

There is no explanation for this, none, no words could every justify the actions taken other then: some people are simply without a moral cell in their being. Sadly they are the ones who are not denied food enough.

Eugenics experimentation, starvation, whether it be under racial circumstances denoting inferior, to disability and mental disability. It seemed it was mostly done on Natives, at a 25 percent rate for sterilization of institutionalized people. And as we compulsory sterilization in just didn't happen in Nazi Germany, nor the US, Canada did too, in Alberta and BC.

Originally posted by phishyblankwaters
reply to post by Corruption Exposed

 

This is just a side note, and speculation on my behalf but I believe it needed to be pointed out. The Nazis were heavily into eugenics, and so was the American government, and it's quite obvious that the Canadian was too regarding their treatment of our Natives.

Not entirely speculation, Nazi scienists working on eugenics and I believe even some types of mind control were indeed here in Canada, Quebec if I remember correctly.

Sad and disgusting the more I learn about some of the things my country has done the harder it is to be proud.

Correct, experimentation overall, didn't end with food, or eugenics, in both countries. Psychiatrist Donald Ewen Cameron, conducted his "psychic driving", which is repeated audio messages to alter behavior often done on psychiatric patients. As his commuting from the US to Montreal, brought Projectk MKUltra to Canada.

reply to post by cenpuppie


But that's true. Is it "ethically wrong?" Yes. But what we've learned from research done by the Nazis and the Japanese during WWII has proven to be invaluable. As much as I know ATS will disagree with me, sometimes what's moral and ethical isn't what's best. Until we develop a way to simulate a fully-functional human body that will respond to stimuli in the same way a real person would, the old adage of "to make an omelette, you've got to break a few eggs" will continue to hold true in research.

Originally posted by Unity_99
Criminal charges can still be brought and should be, against anyone living that was a part of this.

Queen Elisabeth?

Good lord, the lifelong implications of such a horrendous "experiment".
What were they expecting?
Going to read more, too angry now.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


Important topic. Thanks. Also, suspect that Nazi/eugenics connection is key.

S&F&

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


OH look.

More proof of our 400 year genocide of Aboriginals.

I'm so proud to be Canada :/

~Tenth