Tested By Fire: Remembering the Mississauga Train Derailment, presented by Matthew Wilkinson, staff Historian at Heritage Mississauga

On the evening of November 10, 1979, residents in the City of Mississauga were unaware that something catastrophic was about to happen. They experienced thunderous explosions, and the next morning, awoke to a mass evacuation.

Matthew Wilkinson, staff Historian at Heritage Mississauga, will take you back to the first major evacuation and emergency faced by the young City. The experience placed Mississauga in international headlines for the first time. It tested its leadership, emergency services, organization, and its residents. The ramifications and subsequent investigations led to industry changes in the transportation of hazardous materials.

The train derailment remains perhaps the most significant chapter of the ever-evolving Mississauga story – a moment in time that connected all 'Mississaugans' through common experience – a veritable test by fire.