A crack forensic team has been assembled in Ontario to investigate a mysterious death in Algonquin Park.

Tom Thomson was a landscape painter who after his death in 1917 was closely associated with artists who formed the Group of Seven.
(National Archives of Canada/Canadian Press)

No, it's not the plot for a new instalment in the CSI stable of TV shows, and the incident in question took place 90 years ago.

Nevertheless, the death of renowned Canadian artist Tom Thomson still holds a fascination, with hints of murder, a love affair gone wrong, spies and saboteurs.

To get to the bottom of it all, the website Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History has put together a team of about 50 people, including Dr. Michael Pollanen, Ontario's chief forensic pathologist.

They have added a new page, titled Death on a Painted Lake, to the 10-year-old educational site that focuses considerable assets on cracking the Thomson mystery.

Thomson was a landscape painter who after his death on July 8, 1917, was closely associated with artists who formed the Group of Seven.

He had gone on a fishing trip alone on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park, an area he had often visited and painted.

His body was found eight days later, floating in the lake.

The official cause of death was accidental drowning, but there has been continuing speculation that he was murdered by a neighbour, or that his death had something to do with a failed romance.

Among the wilder theories is that he may have been killed by German spies or saboteurs hiding in the park during the First World War.

Forensic experts look beyond circumstantial evidence

"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," said Pollanen, who reviewed the forensic reports from the scene of Thomson's death.

The new page on the unsolved mysteries site includes transcripts of correspondence between Thomson and his friends, his family and patrons as well as newspaper reports, images of his paintings and other documents.

Teachers can request comprehensive lesson plans that connect the Thomson mystery to school curricula.

In addition, they can obtain passwords that will allow students to access observations and conclusions made by the forensic experts. 

The Thomson project is being officially launched at the University of Toronto's Hart House on Wednesday by Pollanen and research director Gregory Klages of York University's Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies.

Alex Sinclair of the band Tamarack will perform a song dealing with the Thomson mystery, and Thomson's painting The Pointers will be on display at the launch.

The project was funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage through the Canadian Culture Online Strategy.