The home-turned-daycare called Watch Me Grow in Baltimore, Ont. was once a bustling licensed childcare facility in the small hamlet of Baltimore, Ontario, just north of Cobourg.
That changed on Thursday, May 25, 2023, when the mother of two-year-old Vienna Rose Irwin came to pick her daughter up from this facility and she was no where to be found.
Claire Irwin immediately called her husband Clay and the police. Emergency responders arrived within minutes.
After a brief search of the property, Vienna was found nonresponsive in what was said to have been a closed-lid septic tank housed within the toddler’s outside play area. Over a year later, no arrests have been made, leaving the community and the family alike reeling with grief and questions about accountability.
The hashtag #JusticeForVienna, adorned with butterflies — one of Vienna’s beloved marvels — has surged across social media, storefronts, cars, and homes, serving as a powerful tribute to her innocent life.
The family and public continue to seek answers regarding Vienna’s disappearance one year ago, including questions about the delay in her being reported missing, accountability for the tragedy, and the lack of arrests.
Rebel News uncovered a new by-law, By-Law 18 – 2022, implemented in Northumberland County, where the daycare is located, that came into effect in May 2022 – a year before Vienna’s passing.
It mandates “on-site sewage system re-inspection” that empowers Northumberland County to enforce on-site sewage system re-inspections, including septic tanks.
After submitting an access to information request for details on By Law 18 – 2022 to determine any connection with the daycare, it was revealed that two documents relating to email correspondence were being “withheld in full” due to “law enforcement matters.”
Emails reveal the septic inspection history dating back to the daycare’s licensing in 2010, with communication between Senior Plumbing and Sewage System Inspector Chief Building Official Kirk Johnstone and to Dwayne Campbell, Manager of Land Use Planning and Inspection Services on Friday, May 26 2023 – one day after Vienna’s death.
Campbell stated, “Health unit tried to tell MOE [Ministry of Education] we inspected it. Lol.”
Lol is an acronym for ‘laugh out loud,’ which Johnstone gets in on. He responds “Really, lol back at ya” before Campbell sends the news article of Vienna’s death from Global News. Johnstone responds, “what a shame, so sad.”
By June, Johnstone sends an email to Heather Nemec – Education and Communications Coordinator for the county – asking her to “make a cmp file for this” so that he can “keep track of the correspondence going back and forth.”
Another document looks as though a septic inspection was requested on May 1, 2023 leaving the question: when was the septic last mandated to be inspected?
Rebel News contacted the three individuals mentioned in the emails to determine if and when the septic tank at the location was inspected in May 2023, to inquire about the inspection findings, understand the protocol for technicians regarding the integrity of septic lids during inspections, and seek clarification on the use of “lol” by county staff in discussing this tragic incident.
Campbell responded that the county had “not been contacted for any inspection at this location,” since “Northumberland County did not become the local authority for septic system inspections until 2014, post-implementation of any septic system at 4581 County Road 45,” which is the daycare’s address. The ‘lol’ comment was “made pertaining to an issue of process and not related to tragic events of that time,” he said.
Where does the truth lie? There’s something fishy here. On one hand, the county says they did not inspect the septic yet communication documents have been withheld due to law enforcement matters.
When will Vienna’s parents and family receive the closure and justice they seek, along with answers regarding responsibility for and details of what occurred on that fateful day?
