SQ investigating after suspected injection incidents at western festival

At least seven festivalgoers may have been injected with unidentified substance in Saint-Tite, Que.

Quebec provincial police say they are investigating at least seven reports of festivalgoers who may have been injected with or unknowingly consumed an unidentified substance at the Saint-Tite Western Festival last week.

The festival, which ran between Sept. 11 and 20, attracts hundreds of thousands of festivalgoers to Saint-Tite, about 200 kilometres northeast of Montreal.

Of the seven reported cases, six people have agreed to submit to toxicological testing to determine whether a substance was present and help identify it, police say.

Thus far, investigators have not received any results. Police say festival management has collaborated with their investigation.

Sabrina St-Pierre is one the people who says she was injected. The incident reportedly occurred around 9 p.m. on Sept. 12, near the Grandes Estrades arena on Main Street.

“I hadn't been drinking or using any drugs. I was surrounded by about fifteen adult friends, mostly men. I was wearing jeans and a thick fleece jacket. My boyfriend was literally next to me,” Sabrina St-Pierre wrote in a Facebook post shared more than 6,300 times.

She described feeling a sting on her left buttock, followed by an immediate burning sensation. Then, a few minutes later, her condition reportedly changed.

6 people injured after vehicle strikes pedestrians at Festival Western de Saint-Tite

Her friends and boyfriend stayed by her side "as I lost control of my own body," she wrote.

The day after the events, St-Pierre was released from the hospital. She says her health is being closely monitored to see if she develops any illness after the injection.

“I will have tests every three months and every six months to check that nothing has happened in the meantime," she said. "I received two or three new vaccines, then immunoglobulins, to ensure that my system is able to fight."

The Sûreté du Québec confirms that it is aware of St-Pierre's account, and said that an investigation is underway.

Arrest made in vehicle attack case

There was another incident early Saturday morning on the Saint-Tite festival grounds when six people — two young women and four young men, aged between 17 and 21 — were injured after being struck by a vehicle.

A man in his 20s was arrested in the Quebec City area and released under a promise to appear at a later date.

With files from Radio-Canada's Kassandra Lebel and Francis Beaudry