Ten years after Carleton University issued a vague apology for a former professor's role in disreputable Cold War-era research targeting queer individuals, two academics are now working to uncover the full extent of Frank Robert Wake's presence on campus.
Ryan Conrad, a professor of sexuality studies at Carleton and co-leader of the project, expressed dismay at the university's reluctance to acknowledge Wake's lasting influence, calling it "horrifying."
The 'Fruit Machine' and Its Impact
In the 1950s and 1960s, the federal government hired Wake—then chair of Carleton's psychology department—to develop a method for identifying LGBTQ+ people working in the public service, military, and RCMP. Wake created the so-called "fruit machine," a battery of psychological tests that included measuring sweat output and tracking pupil responses to specific words or images of naked men and women.
Although the device proved ineffective and was eventually abandoned, the government used it to compile a list of thousands of suspected or confirmed LGBTQ+ individuals in the Ottawa area. Hundreds were demoted or fired, suffering severe psychological harm; some died by suicide.
In 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized to Canadians who faced discrimination based on sexual orientation. The following year, survivors won a major class-action lawsuit.
Wake's Dual Role
Wake's government research was kept secret from the university, but Carleton professors argue that his federal contract to surveil suspected queer individuals is inseparable from his deep involvement with the institution. Conrad and Alexander McClelland, both LGBTQ+ professors at Carleton, have spent the past year examining documents to trace Wake's influence on campus life. Their research, conducted on their own time and without funding, has not yet been publicized.
Through digitized yearbooks, campus newspaper articles, conference presentations, and other records, the professors discovered that Wake coached the university golf team and lectured about sex and dating in Ottawa high schools. He gave hundreds of interviews about his work—focused largely on smoking cessation—to local newspapers and published over 50 academic journal articles.
Conrad believes Wake's high-level position at Carleton, located in a government town, was why he was chosen for the fruit machine research. He criticized the university's stance that it bore no responsibility for academics' research outside their Carleton duties.
"One of the key people responsible for ruining the lives of thousands of Canadians because they were queer or gender non-conforming was a Carleton professor," Conrad said.
