August 1941

In the summer of 1941 news about the war in Europe and the Far East dominated the front page of the Winnipeg Free Press.

Except on Monday Aug. 4.

On this day a story ran on page two that Camp Stephens was under quarantine. Three cases of "infantile paralysis" had been confirmed.

Or polio, an infectious disease that attacks the central nervous system and can cause temporary and in serious cases permanent paralysis and even death. Thousands of Canadians were infected by polio in the years before the first vaccine was developed in the mid 1950s.

So health authorities swooped down on camp and placed it under quarantine, effectively cutting it off from the rest of the world. 

Within a few days, each of the stricken boys showed signs of a full recovery and the quarantine was lifted.