Visions of a lost season shakes tourism industry

Phones rang throughout Jasper last Friday with calls from national media looking for details of what some feared might be the first signs of the next great pandemic. 

For a few hours, the possibility hung in the air, raising fears of a deadly outbreak here and the potential loss of the tourist season to global travel restrictions.

All of the ingredients were there: the death of a woman aboard a Via Rail train that was stopped in a remote northern Ontario town, quarantined and swarmed by medical teams in hazmat suits; a second passenger was seriously ill and airlifted to Timmins, and five others were displaying flu-like symptoms.

The Jasper connection was significant. The train from Vancouver to Toronto stopped in the mountain park for 90 minutes last Wednesday, allowing passengers off the train to stretch their legs, and to take on 60 people.

The woman who died, a South African traveler, was believed to have boarded the train here as part of a group of tourists, some of whom were displaying flu-like symptoms.

All the communities in which the train made stops were under scrutiny, Health Canada spokesman Alastair Sinclair said, raising a storm of questions.

“Federal officials are collaborating with their provincial and regional counterparts to assess the situation and take action, as appropriate,” Sinclair said.

“The Minister of Health, Tony Clement, has been briefed and has directed his officials to notify and liaise with provincial, regional and local authorities.”

That was news to Michel Richer, owner of Trains and Lattes at the  Jasper Station. 

“We don’t know anything here, and no one has come around. You would think they would,” said Richer who recalled that a couple of visitors to his store had boarded the quarantined train.

The best source of information on Friday morning was Dr. David Johnson, chief medical officer of health for the Aspen Regional Health Authority. 

The five passengers with flu symptoms were Australians, and were part of a larger group of travellers who had stayed in several Jasper hotels for at least one night before boarding the train, he said.

“The hotels have been checked and there is no more indication of illness than you would expect at the tail end of the flu season,” Dr. Johnson said. “Certainly no finding of anything that would cause concerns for visitors or staff.”

The crisis subsided as quickly as it appeared. By noon Friday, health officials determined that the death of Brenda Buckley, 43, was unrelated to the illness of the woman airlifted to Timmins and neither had any connection to the sick Australians.

The train was under quarantine for nine hours before it was released and continued on to Toronto. Most of the 264 passengers and 30 crew members debarked there Saturday morning, most of them in good spirits despite the ordeal.