TORONTO, March 31, 2008 -- Ninety years after Tom Thomson disappeared in Algonquin Park, a York University graduate student has created a new website to help students find out what happened to the man whose landscapes are among the most familiar and best-loved images of Canadian art. 

The educational mystery website, “Death on a Painted Lake: The Tom Thomson Tragedy,”* will be launched Wednesday at the University of Toronto’s Hart House. Dr. Michael Pollanen, Chief Forensic Pathologist of Ontario, will offer a new assessment of the artist’s death, and Thomson site research director Gregory Klages, of York University’s Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, will discuss the archival materials he and a team of researchers pulled together for the project.

The website is the latest phase of The Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History website project, www.canadianmysteries.ca.  The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education is a project sponsor.

Tom Thomson was a Canadian landscape painter, closely associated with the artists who formed the Group of Seven following his death. Working in Ontario’s Algonquin Park, he ventured out on a fishing trip alone on 8 July 1917. His body was found eight days later, floating in Canoe Lake.

"Thomson’s tragic death poses a compelling mystery that has inspired researchers for decades. ‘How did Tom Thomson die?’ is the type of question that will encourage students and members of the public to hone their historical sleuthing skills," says Klages.

Ontario’s chief forensic pathologist agrees the mysterious death raises questions. “Circumstantial evidence and a presumption that someone has drowned simply because the body is recovered from water is not a valid approach to determining the cause of death,” says Pollanen.

Alex Sinclair, of the band Tamarack, will perform a new song dealing with the Thomson mystery, and Thomson’s painting, “The Pointers” (1916-17) will be on display at the launch.

This project was made possible with the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage through the Canadian Culture Online Strategy.

WHAT: Launch of Tom Thomson mystery website

WHEN: Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 10:30 am

WHERE: Debates Room, Hart House, University of Toronto, 7 Hart House Circle

Information: www.canadianmysteries.ca 

*The “Death on a Painted Lake: The Tom Thomson Tragedy” website includes transcriptions of correspondence between Thomson and his friends, family, and patrons, newspaper reports about his trips, art reviews, images of Thomson’s paintings, information about logging and tourism in Algonquin Park, as well as a selection of other types of documents. These will all be freely accessible to the public.  Teachers can also request comprehensive teaching plans developed around the site material, that connect the Thomson mystery to larger themes in junior high and high school curricula, as well as passwords that will allow them and their students to access observations and conclusions reached by experts.

York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 200,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 11 faculties and 24 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.

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Media Contacts:

Laura Taman, Project Coordinator, Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, York University, 416 736 5499 / llt@yorku.ca                 

Gregory Klages, Research Director, “Death on a Painted Lake: The Tom Thomson Tragedy,” 416 979 5000 x2153 /  g2klages@ryerson.ca   

Janice Walls, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22101 / wallsj@yorku.ca