Baie-Johan-Beetz, the village that resisted the Spanish flu

In 1918, the Spanish flu, nicknamed the “great killer,” caused between 50 and 100 million deaths worldwide, including more than 50,000 in Canada and nearly 15,000 in Quebec. But on the North Shore, the village of Baie-Johan-Beetz was spared from this epidemic. According to historians, he escaped the dangers of the flu thanks in particular to the knowledge of the man who gave his name to this locality, Johan Beetz.

The history and geography teacher at Jean-du-Nord secondary school in Sept-Îles, Francis Abud, recalls that at the time, the North Shore was isolated by land from the rest of Quebec.

We were transported [vers la Côte-Nord] by boat. Ship transport was an incubator for viruses. All communities on the North Shore were affected by the flu, except Baie-Johan-Beetzhe explains.

The teacher indicates that the geographical position and political decisions taken by the community contributed to protecting this village.

At the time, the village was led by Johan Beetz, the founder of the community. He is a Belgian natural surgeon and biologist. He understands the dangers of contagion. With the help of the telegraph, he kept very informed of the progress of the disease. It will bring the community together, and collectively, it decides to close [ses portes] to the rest of the provincesays Francis Abud.

Marie-Josée Biron taught history at Cégep de Baie-Comeau, notably in 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. During this period, during an interview given to the show Hello there Côteshe returned to the events surrounding the isolation of Baie-Johan-Beetz at the beginning of the 20^e century.

People quickly listened to Mr. Johan Beetz because he was considered [comme un] scholar. He saw the dazzling progress [de la grippe espagnole] on the North Shore. He decided to take necessary measures to spare his village.

Village quarantine

According to Francis Abud, cutting Baie-Johan-Beetz from the rest of Quebec was not a complex task.

It was quite easy to circumscribe, to isolate the village of Baie-Johan-Beetz. Relations with the outside world [étaient] quite limited. boats [venaient] two or three times a year for mail, except those for fishing.

Measures have been put in place to ensure the isolation of the village.

If a boat approached the community, a crew from Baie-Johan-Beetz would board the boat. There were weapons present. We asked people to see if there were any sick people on board. Then we quarantined the shipments that arrived in the village.says Francis Abud.

According to Marie-Josée Biron, Johan Beetz himself worked to implement these measures. He went to meet the packages himself. He took care to disinfect all packages, letters and newspapers that entered the communityshe says.

The postal service employee could no longer get there.

The postman’s bags were disinfected at sea, even before bringing them to land. Several merchants in the region contested this blockade. They made complaints to the government and even asked the police to intervene with forceexplains Francis Abud.

During the epidemic, Baie-Johan-Beetz still remained in communication with other neighboring north coastal villages.

They were aware that nearby villages were suffering from the Spanish flu. For example, in Saint-Pierre-de-la-Pointe-aux-Esquimaux, now Havre-Saint-Pierre, we are talking about forty to fifty people died during the pandemic.adds the teacher.

Since then, the municipality has been named after Johan Beetz.

Aware of the benefit of the initiative, the residents asked that the name of the village be that of Baie-Johan-Beetz, a name already given to the post office and often used locally and regionally.we can read on the Municipality’s website.