Latest Episodes

Episode 424: Between 1928 and 1972, the Alberta government authorized the forced sterilization of nearly 3,000 Albertans deemed “unfit” to reproduce. They were told they were having their appendix removed. Many were children. Most had…

Episode 362: We explore chilling events that unfolded at POW Camp 132 in Medicine Hat, Alberta, during World War II. This prisoner-of-war camp, one of many scattered across Canada, became the site of…

This is part 2 of our coverage of the Gay Purge in Canada. Last week, we uncovered the origins of the Canadian government’s purge of gays and queer folk, a campaign that began in the early years of the Cold War. This week, we take a chilling dive into one of the government’s most sinister methods—the Fruit Machine. This pseudoscientific device was meant to expose gay individuals through invasive tests, and how the RCMP and military’s attempted Purge of gays from civil service continued unabated all the way through to the 1990s.

In this episode, part one of two, thanks to Mathew’s intrepid and unflinching research, we’re peeling back the layers on one of the most harrowing chapters in Canadian history: the Gay Purge. Officially, the campaign targeted LGBTQ+ individuals as part of a national security effort—citing their supposed susceptibility to blackmail by Soviet agents - But the real story is that these purges were driven more by institutional homophobia cloaked in Cold War fears and rhetoric than by legitimate security concerns. The blackmail excuse became a convenient cover for the government's systemic discrimination, allowing a deeply entrenched homophobia to flourish unchecked. This campaign stretched from the 1950s through to the 1990s, destroying lives, careers, and communities along the way. We’ll explore the origins of this agenda, how it escalated, and look at a few of the stories of individuals affected.

In this episode of Dark Poutine, we delve into a troubling chapter of British Columbia’s history that reveals the deep-seated racism and fear that plagued our past. D’Arcy Island, a small and isolated landmass off the coast of Vancouver Island, became home to a leprosy colony from 1891 to 1924. But this wasn’t just any colony; it was a place where Chinese immigrants who had contracted the disease were forcibly sent to live out their days in harsh and inhumane conditions, far from society’s view. Leprosy, now known as Hansen’s disease, has been misunderstood and deeply feared throughout history. The disease, although not highly contagious and treatable today, was seen as a mark of shame and led to the isolation of those afflicted. The establishment of the D’Arcy Island colony was rooted not only in fear of the disease but also in the racist attitudes of the time, which viewed Chinese immigrants as expendable and less deserving of care.

Last week, we learned how Chinese immigrants have significantly contributed to Western Canada's development since 1788, playing critical roles in trade, gold rushes, and railway construction. Despite their contributions, they faced severe discrimination and exploitation, particularly during the railway construction in the early 1900s. Post-railway completion, they suffered rights losses and were subject to a prohibitive head tax, escalating to $500, which failed to deter immigration. Enduring nativist racism and accusations of moral and social threats, their plight culminated in the dark chapter of Canadian history on July 1, 1923, as the Chinese Exclusion Act came into law.

The history of Chinese immigration to Canada is a story marked by adversity. Chinese labourers played a pivotal role in building the Canadian railway under harsh conditions, yet faced institutional discrimination, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923, which limited immigration and separated families for years. Despite these challenges, the Chinese community's resilience has left an indelible mark on Canadian culture. Today, we honour their contributions and recognize the need to confront our history's shadows, striving for a more inclusive Canadian identity that values people of all backgrounds.

In Montreal, Quebec on the evening of April 10, 1734, a fire broke out in the home of Madame de Francheville on Rue Saint-Paul and quickly spread throughout the city. Raging for hours, it destroyed over 46 buildings, primarily residential homes, and the Hôtel-Dieu, a hospital that provided medical care to soldiers and people who were too poor to care for at home. There were rumours that Madame de Francheville’s Portuguese-born black enslaved woman, Marie-Josèphe dite Angélique, started the fire as an act of rebellion on learning she was to be sold and sent away from her lover, a white man and salt trafficker named Claude Thibault. Angélique was arrested and subsequently tortured until she confessed to setting the fire. She was then convicted of arson and hanged on June 21, 1734. The fire significantly impacted Montreal’s development and created new building codes and fire prevention measures. The event remains integral to Montreal’s cultural and historical heritage and yet another dark spot in Canada’s history. Some have called Angélique a heroine, others a scapegoat. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is lost to time.

At the outset of World War II, a number of Canadian citizens of German and Italian decent, as well as Jews who were immigrating to Canada, fleeing Europe were rounded up and put into internment camps. After the Japanese attack on the United States in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, on 6 December, 1941, North Americans were afraid. The Second World War had come far too close to home. Just over a month after the Pearl Harbour attack, a process began which saw the mass internment of Japanese Canadians from 1942 until 1949. Many of the detainees, including women and children, had been born in Canada. The country they’d grown up to love had uprooted them from their homes, seized their properties and taken away their rights and freedoms.

Episode 204: Between 1957 and 1964 in Montreal, Quebec, experiments were undertaken that compromised and invaded people’s minds, their agency to make decisions for themselves removed and their brains mucked about in, both physically and psychologically. These barbaric, Orwellian experiments often involved mind expanding drugs like LSD, sensory deprivation, shock treatments and periods of sleep induced for weeks at a time as well as other treatments that could easily be called torturous. They were sponsored by the most notorious branch of the United States government, the CIA, the Canadian government as well as other shadowy organizations with funding coming even from the Rockefellers. The goals behind the research, it seems were to develop brainwashed, zombie-like ‘recruits’ who would do the bidding of these groups without question or conscience getting in the way and to develop new methods of psychological torture to aid in enemy interrogation. All of it took place right here in Canada. The research was overseen by Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron, an eminent and well-respected psychiatrist at McGill University’s, Allan Memorial Institute with unwitting Canadian psychiatric patients used as Guinae pigs. The project was called MK-ULTRA.Sources:D. Ewen Cameron, M.D., F.R.C.P.C.Donald Ewen CameronDonald Ewen Cameron | The McClaughry’s BlogCIA MKULTRA / Mind Control Collection - The Black VaultMKULTRA files : Free Texts : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet ArchiveThe Most Dangerous Game : Josh Shore, Paul Shore : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet ArchiveThe Curious Career of Dr. Ewen CameronPsychological Warfare | RANDMind Control & MK-ULTRAMK Ultra Project - Commission on Assisted DyingGeorge Cooper Report Ewen Cameron, 1986 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet ArchiveMK Ultra: CIA mind control program in Canada (1980) - The Fifth Estate — YouTubeBrainwashed: The Secret CIA Experiments in Canada - The Fifth Estate — YouTubeCIA Mind Control Survivors Seek Restitution From Canadian GovernmentSAAGA — Survivors Against Government AbuseBrainwashed | CBC Podcasts | CBC ListenRavenscrag, Montreal - WikipediaAllan Memorial Institute - WikipediaProject MKULTRA - McGillDeclassified: Mind Control at McGill | The McGill TribuneReader CIA Brainwashing McIntoshMontreal MKULTRA Experiments | The Canadian EncyclopediaThe toxic legacy of Canada’s CIA brainwashing experiments: ‘They strip you of your soul’ | Canada | The GuardianVictims of CIA’s MKUltra Mind Control Program Are Fighting Back | GaiaMind Wars by Marie D. Jones | GoodreadsThe Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA & Mind Control by John D. Marks | GoodreadsPoisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control by Stephen Kinzer | GoodreadsMaisonneuve | Distant RelativesTrudeau government gag order in CIA brainwashing case silences victims, lawyer says | CBC NewsBrainwashed: The echoes of MK-ULTRA | CBC NewsSocial Media and the BrainUS claims Russia planning ‘false-flag’ operation to justify Ukraine invasion | Russia | The GuardianSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine