Former prime minister Paul Martin says that the only way in which the vow of ‘never again’ can have any substance is if people have a full awareness of what happened

Food, health and nutrition historian Ian Mosby, in what he called the most difficult research project he’d ever undertaken, has revealed that between 1942 and 1952, some of Canada’s leading nutrition experts, in cooperation with various federal departments, conducted an unprecedented series of nutritional studies of Aboriginal communities and residential schools.

Subjects in the experiments were kept on starvation-level diets, and given or denied vitamins, minerals and certain foods. Some dental services were also withdrawn because researchers thought healthier teeth and gums might skew results. [source: CBC]

The research led to immediate, and shocked, reaction from across the country. Assembly of First Nations national chief Shawn Atleo said the report ignited a firestorm at the group’s Annual General Assembly in Whitehorse and galvanized Chiefs to table an emergency resolution calling for swift action and redress:

The government must release all information on this matter without delay. We are mindful that this same government is withholding documents from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and in our own discrimination complaint before the Human Rights Tribunal on First Nations child welfare. This shameful delay must end. Action is required that is consistent with the Prime Minister’s apology for the residential schools that committed the Government of Canada to work towards healing and reconciliation. It is time to honour that promise. And we must say to everyone: Canada, this is your history. We must confront the ugly truths and move forward together. [source: Assembly of First Nations]

Reports about the nutritional experiments led newscasts and prompted widespread condemnation. Broadcasters and editorial boards struggled to find words that sufficiently conveyed the horror associated with the revelations. A Times Colonist editorial stated:

The abuses in Canada’s Indian residential schools have been a stain on the country’s history, but the experiments carried out on unwitting children in the schools and on adults outside are staggering in their callousness.

It is not enough to say, as is often said in other cases, that times were different and we cannot judge previous generations by current standards. Even in the 1940s and 1950s, experimenting on people without their knowledge or consent was wrong. To do it to children was monstrous. [source: Times Colonist]

Assembly of First Nations national chief Shawn Atleo spoke to the personal connection he has to what happened during that time:

The reports of these studies, in which more than a thousand Indigenous children were denied essential nutrition and in some cases deliberately starved, were reported as far back as 2000 but did not gain national attention. Sadly, I have a deeply personal connection as my home community of Ahousaht was one of the communities that had these studies imposed on them unknowingly. My elders and family members were exposed to this cruel and inhumane treatment where our children were treated like lab rats. [source: AFN]

Descendants still suffer as a result of earlier residential school abuses

Former Canadian prime minister Paul Martin told CBC News that thousands of descendants of the victims are likely still hurting as a direct result of past abuse. And he said more funding for health care, trauma care and education is critical for addressing wrongs of the past:

“When you realize the effect that it had not simply on those people – where it must have been terrible – but on the generations that followed, you begin to understand why treating aboriginal Canadians fairly and funding not just on an equal basis but recognizing the need, and the need for ‘catch-up,’ becomes crucial,” he said.

“The fact that education funding, health care funding, welfare funding is still substantially below the funding that non-aboriginals receive is just simply unspeakable. It’s despicable, and there is no excuse for this.” [source: CBC]

The CBC also noted that when serving as prime minister, Martin endorsed the Kelowna Accord, which pledged $5 billion over 10 years to improved education, employment and living conditions for aboriginals. It was subsequently scrapped by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

We speak with Paul Martin, in an interview first broadcast in August 2013.

495_august_01_2013_sm    Left-click to listen; right-click to save.

RELATED | Read the full research article in PDF: Administering Colonial Science: Nutrition Research and Human Biomedical Experimentation in Aboriginal Communities and Residential Schools, 1942–1952 | Many stories to be heard: Networks across the country attempt to build a national archive in Winnipeg | Heavy stuff: Canada’s history awash with crimes against First Nations | Routine exploitation: Powerless poor are handy research subjects | Scientist’s son: “Just trying to do good work” | Horrific policy: Starving children is not enough? | Staggering callousness: Nutrition tests unethical | Shawn Atleo: Harper must address | Research finds: Canadian government withheld food from hungry aboriginal kids | Disclose all records: Former PM calls experiments ‘monstrous’ | Mid-Island News Blog: Canada’s nutrition experiments on First Nations |

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First Nations call for release of residential school documents – Sudbury News (July 26, 2013)