The Stranger At The Table on Saturday Afternoon
The Jewish community in Veltree, Ontario was microscopic. Veltree was located in Northern Ontario, and most of the people who lived there were involved in Nuclear fission projects and academic research. There were operational logging camps outside of Veltree, but when the Government banned clear-cutting, the major players in the lumber industry called it a day and pulled their crews out, leaving economic devastation behind.
The Alfred Bolton Center for Advanced Scientific Research and Studies had become globally recognized for technological breakthroughs and as a result, it attracted brilliant minds. The Ontario government had aggressively offered all kinds of financial inducements for The Bolton Center to locate in Northern Ontario and after much lobbying, the organization accepted their offer. It was a match made in heaven. The Ontario government financed and built the Bolton Center Headquarters and they didn’t care how much it cost. It was a state-of-the-art facility.
The people who worked and played in Veltree loved the rustic setting, but it also took a toll as Veltree was an isolated place. There were some indigenous communities miles down the river and there were great interactions with the First Nation people, but for all intents and purposes, Veltree was situated in the middle of No Man’s land.
