March 11, 1986: Six die after Peerless Lake party
Six people — youths and adults, all under the age of 35 — died of methyl hydrate poisoning after swallowing photocopier fluid at a drinking party in Peerless Lake, 240 kilometres north of Edmonton.
An RCMP plane arrived from Peace River to transport victims to the Slave Lake Hospital. Six doctors and at least six extra nurses were called in to meet the planes at the Slave Lake Airport.
After stabilization, the patients were loaded onto a fleet of aircraft and a helicopter to be flown to Edmonton.
One victim died at the settlement. A second died during the air evacuation and the other four after arrival at an Edmonton hospital.
Police and community members conducted a door-to-door search in the community to make sure there were no more victims.
An additional five males were found who said they drank the fluid, but were not experiencing symptoms of poisoning.
Elders in the Peerless Lake settlement blamed the incident on an aimless existence of alcohol abuse and joblessness.
A four-litre jug of photocopier fluid, stolen from a community vocational centre, was found in the dilapidated shack where the drinking party took place.
The victims were found in varying states of consciousness, said Fred Cardinal, who arrived after one of the partygoers next door had stumbled to his house for help.
“It is a big problem — a problem that we have to have help with,” said Harvey Houle, president of the Peerless Lake Nevanan Community Association, which governed the settlement.
The Peerless Lake tragedy brought back memories for the Métis of Fishing Lake, who lost three men in a similar incident in 1982.