Project Mind Control: "Morningstar"

Podcast: Project Mind Control
Host: Dr. Julia Shaw (Always True Crime)
Date: March 31, 2026

Episode Overview

In this powerful episode, Dr. Julia Shaw delves into the chilling legacy of the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal and its rumored secret history of medical experimentation on Indigenous children. Through the fractured but compelling memories of survivor Lana Ponting, listeners are guided through personal trauma, Indigenous advocacy, and ongoing forensic investigations into unmarked graves. The episode investigates the intersection of covert CIA involvement, Canada’s system of residential schools, and the long shadow cast by the psychiatric experiments of Dr. Ewen Cameron, exposing unsettling questions about accountability, lost children, and cultural genocide.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Lana Ponting’s Memories of the Allan Institute

• Lana’s Experience: As a teenage runaway, Lana Ponting was sent to the Allan Institute in the 1950s and remembers undergoing traumatic electroshock and drug treatments.
• Morningstar: Lana recalls befriending an Indigenous girl named Morningstar, who later disappeared without explanation from the hospital.
  • Quote: "She was beautiful. She had a long braid way down her back and she had the most beautiful moccasins I've ever seen in my life. ... She was a year older than I was. She was 16." — Lana Ponting [04:25, 05:00]
• Witnessing Indigenous Children: Lana testifies seeing several Indigenous children at the facility, along with hints of secretive, possibly criminal activity.
  • Quote: "Yes, there were others. Can't remember how many there were, but there were children in there. ... All kinds of children." — Lana Ponting [06:45]
• Suspicious Digging and Unanswered Questions: Lana describes seeing people with red-handled shovels at night; she suspects they were burying bodies, and this observation is supported by rumors among patients and staff.
  • Quote: "I'll never forget that. They were red handled shovels and they were digging. ... Were they burying something in the ground? What else could it be?" — Lana Ponting [07:24]
  • Affidavit Quote: "There were rumors that there are bodies buried in the Allen property. And I believe that some of them would be indigenous people." — Lana Ponting (Affidavit) [08:01]

2. The Mohawk Mothers and Indigenous Advocacy

• Description of the Mohawk Mothers as a grassroots group fighting for answers about missing Indigenous children and possible unmarked graves at the Allan site.
  • Quote: “The Mohawk Mothers are part of the indigenous group known as the Mohawks, the Kanekaha. … The Mohawk Mothers say the Allen was no different and something from Lana's memories has opened up an entirely new investigation.” — Narrator [03:31]
• Perspectives from prominent advocates such as Kahenti Netta, discussing the cultural, oral, and matriarchal traditions by which their community remembers and investigates the past.
  • Quote: "We just pass it on. And people will say, 'Oh, I heard that story before.' … So we all correct each other's story. Sometimes it's very old. … And we're correcting each other's stories..." — Kahenti Netta [13:52]
  • Quote: “It's not activism. ... Just our duties and responsibilities to our people and to our communities, to our children.” — Kahenti Netta [12:11]

3. Historical and Systemic Context: Residential and Day Schools

• Detailed explanation of Canada’s racially segregated residential and Indian day schools, with government-led removal of Indigenous children.
  • Quote: "The government of Canada has estimated that 150,000 Indigenous children were removed and separated from their families and communities to attend these residential schools. ... Many ... were buried in unmarked and mass graves." — Narrator [17:20]
• Personal testimony from Kahenti Netta about being misdiagnosed due to lack of English and surviving harsh punishments in Indian day school.
  • Quote: “I couldn't speak any English, so they thought that I was mentally retarded.” — Kahenti Netta [16:29]
• Establishes the documented precedent of Indigenous children disappearing or dying in care, strengthening the plausibility of unmarked graves at institutions like the Allan Institute.

4. The Archaeological Investigation at the Allan Site

• Development Blocked: The Mohawk Mothers launch legal action to halt McGill University’s new construction until proper search for graves is completed.
  • Quote: “We have the duty to go and investigate and make sure that no one is buried there without a respectful send off.” — Dr. Philippe Bloin [21:48]
• Investigation Methods:
  • Cadaver dogs detected the scent of human remains.
    • Quote: “They're able to very, very accurately identify the scent of specifically human decomposition. They don't alert to animals.” — Josie Quigley [23:23]
  • Ground-penetrating radar highlighted nine areas with "potential grave type features," though not conclusive for bodies.
  • Soil spectroscopy was also used, suggesting soft tissue decomposition but unable to confirm if human.
    • Quote: “Soil spectroscopy also indicated that there is evidence of soft tissue decomposition.” — Josie Quigley [25:29]
  • One area was flagged by all three methods, supporting the possibility of human remains.
    • Quote: “Combining all three of those lines of evidence is like how we get to the conclusion of...the presence of human remains on site, even if we can't physically dig them up.” — Josie Quigley [26:01]
• Findings: Remnants of children’s shoes and various bone fragments; concerns that evidence may have been destroyed or misclassified as animal remains.
  • Quote: “There was a sole of a child's shoe. … [bones] were bone fragments, all different types, sizes, and they were thrown in a paper bag. … We are going to investigate.” — Dr. Philippe Bloin [26:42, 27:10]

5. Institutional & Legal Roadblocks

• Restricted access to records due to privacy laws; only direct descendants may view patient files, limiting the search for identified children.
• McGill's official stance is that "no human remains have been discovered," but the investigation and community involvement remain ongoing.
• McGill’s public relations statement highlights their reconciliation efforts and collaboration with Indigenous communities—though search results remain inconclusive so far.
  • Affidavit Quote: "McGill's commitment to reconciliation has helped guide the development of the Sustainability Park. Indigenous communities have been engaged to co-develop proposals..." — McGill Statement (read by Lana Ponting, Affidavit Voice) [28:42]

6. The Alleged Swimming Pool Cover-Up, Rumors, and Urban Legends

• Lana remembers staff talking about a swimming pool built after her time, rumored to be “to hide the bodies.”
  • Affidavit Quote: "I heard somebody say, why? Why are they building a swimming pool? And this person said, well, I guess to hide the bodies." — Lana Ponting (Affidavit) [29:53]
• Urban legends linger about the now-abandoned pool as a hiding site for bodies, although no concrete proof has been found.

7. Dr. Ewen Cameron’s Published Lethal Experiment

• Rare direct evidence of a patient dying in an experiment conducted by Dr. Cameron—subject 11 in a dehydration study (not at the Allan, but at another hospital).
  • Quote from Cameron (read by host): "A fatality occurred in case number 11. The patient grew very excited, refused nourishment ... Sudden collapse and death followed." — Dr. Cameron [32:57]
  • Quote: "The 24-year-old patient died from the complications of dehydration. ... But it also shows that he didn't have to hide the fact that a patient he experimented on died. He could be open about this and still be hired..." — Narrator [33:14-33:49]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Lana Ponting on Indigenous children and secrets at the Allan:
  "Morningstar, she disappeared from the Allen. I don't know where she went, but I'd love to find her if I could." [09:01]
• Kahenti Netta on activism and duty:
  "It's not activism. I think it's just our duties and responsibilities to our people and to our communities, to our children. ... We know what we have to do, and we'll do it." [12:11]
• Josie Quigley on forensic limitations:
  "GPR really can only tell you that ... there is a material that is different from the material it has just passed through. ... There's very little difference between...the human body compared to like soil." [24:41]
• Dr. Philippe Bloin on the search’s significance:
  "There are people buried there, and whether we know their names or not, there are people that deserve the respect of having their story told, being buried properly and not being a guinea pig." [14:31]

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:07 | Mohawk Mothers gather at Allan Institute, new investigation | | 04:25 | Lana Ponting’s recollections of Morningstar and friends in Allan | | 07:24 | Lana’s memories of midnight digging and red-handled shovels | | 08:01 | Lana’s affidavit: sneaking out and witnessing suspicious activity| | 13:09 | Indigenous matriarchy and oral history explained by Kahenti Netta| | 16:29 | Kahenti Netta on Indian day school and language barriers | | 21:02 | Legal and archaeological status of the Allan Institute search | | 23:23 | Cadaver dog and GPR results explained by Josie Quigley | | 26:42 | Evidence: child’s shoe, bone fragments; forensics challenges | | 29:53 | Rumors about swimming pool built to hide bodies | | 32:57 | Dr. Cameron’s lethal dehydration experiment recounted |

Conclusion & Continuing Questions

The episode leaves listeners with unresolved but haunting questions:

• What precisely happened to Morningstar and other missing children from the Allan Institute?
• Do the rumors and findings point toward a pattern of covered up deaths and unmarked graves?
• Will the combination of community memories, forensic methods, and institutional transparency yield answers or continued obfuscation?

As the archaeological and archival work continues, “Morningstar” weaves together survivor testimony, Indigenous knowledge, and the legacy of medical atrocities, insisting that the truth—however incomplete—demands acknowledgment and justice.

End of summary. For listeners seeking further investigation or to support the Mohawk Mothers, follow updates via their official communications and the Project Mind Control podcast stream.