In October 1956, a peyote ceremony organized by the Native American Church took place at the Red Pheasant reserve in Saskatchewan, involving the psychedelic cactus peyote. By the 1950s, peyotism sparked debates about spirituality, medicine, and Native-newcomer relations. The federal government, embracing multiculturalism, tolerated the ceremony as a legitimate Indigenous ritual, while local authorities sought to criminalize it as abusive and dangerous. The essay examines how scientists, journalists, Native participants, police, and officials interpreted peyotism, suggesting that the ceremony tested the limits of the federal government's approach to treating Aboriginal Canadians as immigrants.
The term 'psychedelic' was first published by Dr. Humphry Osmond in 1957, following clinical investigations with LSD in Saskatchewan during the 1950s. After World War Two, Saskatchewan became a destination for medical and psychiatric researchers who wanted to challenge disciplinary boundaries and examine the relationship between medicine and the state. The province's post-war political culture made it an intellectual sanctuary for medical experimentation that was considered too radical elsewhere. This essay argues that the social, cultural, and political environment in post-war Saskatchewan played a significant role in attracting researchers and supporting LSD research.