Canada's Dark Chapter: The Chilling Role in CIA Mind Control Experiments

 

By J. André Faust

MK-Ultra (MKU) was a secret program run by the CIA in the 1950s and 1960s that focused on mind control experiments. The goal was to figure out how to control people's thoughts and behaviors, especially for use in war and spying. To do this, the CIA tested drugs like LSD, used hypnosis, and put people through harsh treatments like electric shocks. Many of the people involved didn't know what was happening to them, and some suffered long-term damage. When the program was discovered in the 1970s, it caused a big scandal because of how badly it treated people.

Canada played a significant role in the role in the MK-Ultra program through the involvement of Dr. Ewen Cameron, a prominent psychiatrist, and the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal, Quebec. Cameron's work, funded in part by the CIA, became a notorious chapter in the MK-Ultra saga. Who was Dr. Cameron? 

Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron was a Scottish-born psychiatrist who became the head of the Allan Memorial Institute, a psychiatric hospital affiliated with McGill University in Montreal. Cameron was highly respected in his field and was known for his pioneering work in psychiatry.

Under Cameron's direction, the Allan Memorial Institute became a site for some of the most extreme MK-Ultra experiments. Cameron's research focused on "psychic driving" and "depatterning" techniques. He believed he could erase a person's memories and reprogram their mind by subjecting them to repetitive audio messages, combined with heavy doses of drugs like LSD and extensive periods of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

 

Let's take a brief moment to unpack the techniques of psychic driving and depatteringing.

Psychic Driving:

1. Concept: Psychic driving involved playing recorded messages to patients repeatedly, often for hours or days at a time, to "drive" these messages into their minds.
   
   
2. Purpose: The idea was that by bombarding the patient with these repetitive messages, the psychiatrist could implant new thoughts, behaviors, or even "reprogram" the patient’s mind.
   
   
3. Method: Patients were often subjected to this technique while under heavy sedation or after being given large doses of mind-altering drugs like LSD. The messages were usually played through headphones or loudspeakers, and the patient would be in a state where they were unable to resist or respond.

 Depatterning:

1. Concept: Depatterning was a more extreme and aggressive method aimed at completely erasing a person’s existing personality and memories.
   
   
2. Purpose: The goal was to "wipe the slate clean" so that new thoughts, behaviors, or personalities could be implanted using techniques like psychic driving.
   
   
3. Method: Depatterning involved a combination of intense and prolonged electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), large doses of drugs (such as barbiturates and hallucinogens), and periods of drug-induced sleep lasting days or weeks. This would often leave patients in a severely weakened state, both mentally and physically.
   

It is important to note that "Psychic driving" and "depatterning" were experimental psychiatric techniques developed and used by Dr. Ewen Cameron as part of his work. The CIA found use in Dr. Cameron work there by recruiting him to incorporate his techniques in the MK-ULTRA.

The MK-Ultra program and the experiments conducted by Dr. Ewen Cameron were failures in regard to reliably controlling or reprogramming human minds. While there were some insights gained from the MKU program were later used in the development of interrogation techniques, they did contribute to a greater understanding of how the human mind reacts to extreme stress, drugs, and other stimuli. However, this knowledge came at an unsurmountable cost to the individuals involved.

In summary, Canada’s involvement in MK-Ultra revealed a nation complicit, however indirectly, in the violation of its own people. The haunting question remains: How did a country known for its ethical standing allow such horrors to take place within its borders? The shadow of MK-Ultra lingers, a stark reminder that even the most peaceful nations can harbor the darkest secrets.

-----------------------------------------------
Sources

1. Cleghorn, R. (1990). The McGill experience of Robert A. Cleghorn, MD: recollections of D. Ewen Cameron.. Canadian bulletin of medical history = Bulletin canadien d'histoire de la medecine, 7 1, 53-76 . https://doi.org/10.3138/CBMH.7.1.53.
2. Donald Ewen Cameron. (2024, July 28). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Ewen_Cameron
3. Griffin, J. (1991). Cameron's search for a cure.. Canadian bulletin of medical history = Bulletin canadien d'histoire de la medecine, 8 1, 121-6 . https://doi.org/10.3138/CBMH.8.1.121.
4. Torbay, J. (2023). The work of Donald Ewen Cameron: from psychic driving to MK Ultra. History of Psychiatry, 34, 320 - 330. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957154X231163763.

---