Home · On This Day · March 23, 1997
Solar Temple cult claims five more lives
Broadcast Date: March 23, 1997
Quebec is in shock after learning of the fire and brimstone death of five members of the Solar Temple cult who took their own lives in a small village outside Quebec City. A small house in St-Casimir explodes into flames, leaving behind five charred bodies for the police to pull from the fiery rubble. Three teenagers (13, 14 and 16) — the children of one of the couples that died in the fire — are discovered in a shed behind the house, alive but heavily drugged.Police and firemen involved in the investigation originally believe it is just a routine fire. But evidence shows that the fire was started deliberately, fuelling suspicion it is part of a mass suicide that is later linked to the Solar Temple cult. In this clip, questions are asked as to why and how the children were drugged, whether or not they were meant to die, and how their parents took their own lives.
Solar Temple cult claims five more lives
• In total, 74 people who were involved with the Solar Temple cult died in Quebec, Switzerland and France between 1994 and 1997. For more on the Solar Temple story, see the CBC Archives topic Solar Temple: A cult gone wrong.
• This 1997 suicide pact threw Quebec into a state of shock, as it was believed that the Solar Temple had self-destructed following a 1995 mass suicide.
• The police immediately launched an intense, international investigation to see if the sect was still active. They questioned 30 to 40 current and former members in Quebec, and contacted police officials in Europe.
• The three teenagers — Tom, Fanie and Julien Queze — were hospitalized over night after the fire. The eldest son later identified the bodies for the police. Among the dead were their parents and grandmother.
Solar Temple cult claims five more lives
Medium: Television
Program: Sunday Report
Broadcast Date: March 23, 1997
Host: Wendy Mesley
Reporter: Tom Kennedy
Duration: 3:01
Last updated:
Sept. 10, 2008
In the radio broadcast "Mystery in the Alps" (http:archives.cbc.ca/society/crime_justice/clips/2466 Broadcast date Dec 23rd,1995 it also mentions the deaths of this group of five.On a different website the date of this incident is 1995. http://www.templarhistory.com/solar.html.I thought you may want to be aware that the date on this publication is incorrect.
Submitted by: Alexandrua
I am a writer with the Digital Archives project, so I looked into this comment. I think there is confusion because there were two separate groups of five deaths in Quebec, the first in October 1994 and the second in March 1997. See the Digital Archives topic The Solar Temple: A cult gone wrong for a more complete timeline.
Submitted by: Elizabeth Bridge