Canada and MKUltra: The Mind Control Experiments at McGill University

How a respected Canadian institution became a secret hub for horrific CIA-funded mind control experiments.

In the closing days of World War II, two opposing super States emerged—America and the Soviet Union. After both budding empires became matched in nuclear weapons capabilities, a Cold War ensued. This war would be fought in the shadows, where espionage, propaganda, and psychological warfare became the weapons of choice. 

The Cold War wasn’t primarily fought with bombs or armies. Both sides preferred to engage in covert operations, toppling governments, funding insurgencies, and, most chillingly, trying to control human minds. Canada, often seen as a quiet player on the global stage, found itself entangled in these dark tactics. Through its esteemed McGill University, Canada would become an accomplice in inhumane psychological warfare.

MKUltra Comes to Canada: The Allan Memorial Institute

While the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in this ideological and economic struggle, the CIA was busy developing its own psychological warfare tactics, culminating in the notorious MKUltra program. These covert operations have been linked to Charles Manson, Ted Kaczynski, and Jack Ruby.

Among the many institutions roped into this brainwashing operation was Montreal’s McGill University, where Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron, a prominent psychiatrist, conducted some of the most barbaric experiments ever sanctioned by a government. 

Cameron, who would later rise to the heights of his profession as president of both the American and Canadian Psychiatric Associations, claimed to be searching for a cure for schizophrenia. In reality, he was exploring the dark art of mind control—using his patients, many of whom were everyday Canadians seeking help for anxiety or depression, as human guinea pigs. All funded by the CIA.