A timeline of the pandemic sets the scene for local history.
Background information about Victoria and its flu-fighting resources on the eve of the outbreak is in Health Care in 1918.
The second wave of the epidemic is believed to have entered Canada in Quebec in September 1918 and migrated westward with the movement of troops; see The Plague approaches.
The Spanish Flu reached Victoria, British Columbia early in October 1918. All at once local medical and public health services were overwhelmed with cases of the flu and struggling to keep the virus from spreading; see October attack.
The epidemic struck again in January 1919 and a third time in February 1920; see The battle continues.