The “brain school” that experimented on Indigenous children

Front Burner

In 2014, a U.S. brainwave scientist claimed he could increase people’s creativity and cure their traumas. And he got permission to experiment on Indigenous children in Canada, offering an all-expenses-paid trip to Victoria, B.C.

But a decade later, some study participants say the testing they went through — which included staff attaching electrodes to their heads and being asked to talk about the most traumatic moments of their lives — wasn’t what they signed up for and may have left side-effects.

We hear from CBC’s Geoff Leo about what his investigation turned up and why critics are demanding more accountability and transparency over how the study was approved in the first place.

Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out this audience survey.