ABSTRACT
For residents of Walkerton, Ontario, the Victoria Day weekend of 2000
began as had many before it. Viewed as the start of summer, Victoria Day
(one week prior to the American Memorial Day Holiday) offers Canadians an opportunity to break out the barbeque, open up cottages, air out tents,
visit friends and family, and talk about playoff hockey. In Walkerton, a
spate of thunderstorms in the week preceding the holiday did little to
dampen enthusiasm for an annual rite. Indeed, as the weekend arrived,
though warning signs had already appeared, there was little hint of an
imminent calamity. But by Monday morning, Walkerton’s first resident had
died from drinking poisoned town water. The death of Lenore Al would be
followed by six more. Despite a boil-water advisory issued by the region’s Medical Officer of Health on Sunday May, 21st, in excess of 2,300 area
residents became infected; many survivors suffered seriously, and continue
to experience long-term effects both physical and psychological.1
