[2] The experiments involved nutrient-poor isolated communities such as those in The Pas and Norway House in northern Manitoba and residential schools[3] and were designed to learn about the relative importance and optimum levels of newly discovered vitamins and nutritional supplements.
[1] Nutritional experiments were conducted between 1942 and 1952 using Indigenous children from residential schools in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Ontario.
[4] Led by Dr. Percy Moore and Dr. Frederick Tisdall, the research mission was sponsored by Indian Affairs, Milbank Memorial Fund, Royal Canadian Air Force and Hudson's Bay Company.
[4] The goal of this initial survey was to investigate sustenance patterns and nutritional states of the Indigenous people in these communities by administering physical examinations, blood tests and X-rays on 400 residents.
[4][9] In the years preceding the nutrition experiments, John Milloy, Mary-Ellen Kelm and other researchers regarded malnutrition as endemic in the residential schools and First Nations communities.
[1] In response to the results of the initial survey, an experiment was conducted among 300 malnourished Indigenous subjects, 125 of whom were provided any or all of the three nutritional supplements of interest: riboflavin, thiamine, or ascorbic acid.
[14] The second set of researchers included physicians, a dentist, a medical photographer and an X-ray technician to examine the health status of the two First Nations Communities.
[16][17] A nutritionist determined the nutritional quality of food served at the Port Crosby residential school in British Columbia to have a "poor" rating score, with vegetables, cereals and meat reportedly underserved.
In response, Dr. Lionel Bradley Pett, the leader of the Canadian Council on Nutrition at this time, led an initial survey that would investigate residential schools national and experiment with supplemented food items on students as subjects.
[4] These included: A research team of physicians, nurses, dentists and other medical professionals were tasked with assessing the health status of these Indigenous children (with blood tests, physical exams, etc.
[21]The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada was officially established on June 1, 2008, with the purpose of documenting the history, harm, and ongoing impacts of the Canadian Indian residential school system on former students, their families and their communities.