In January 2014, we were invited by the Centre for Memory and Testimony Studies at WLU to present on our project. It was an invigorating discussion, moderated by Dr. Patricia Molloy, who had just recently published her book Canada/US and Other Unfriendly Relations. The conversations allowed us to develop a research manuscript that is forthcoming with WLU Press as part of their CMTS Dialogues Series. Stay tuned for more details about the manuscript and and update on our project.
Since we are at the very beginning of our project, most of our efforts are directed towards building a comprehensive research archive documenting Canada’s cold war bunker system. In addition, we’re thinking about different theoretical frameworks – on memory and nation building – that might help us to analyze the data. Here’s a small sample of what we are reading:
Underground Structures of the Cold War: The World Below by Paul Ozorak
Warrior Nation: Rebranding Canada in an Age of Anxiety by Ian McKay and Jamie Swift
Between Memory and History: Les lieux de memoire by Pierre Nora
History as an Art of Memory by Patrick Hutton
In the next couple of weeks we will be spending time at Canada’s Cold War Museum located in Carp, Ontario. This museum is the site of a decommissioned nuclear bunker constructed during the Cold War to be the relocation site for the federal government of Canada in the event of a nuclear attack. The bunker and Cold War museum have become more commonly known as the Diefenbunker.
There were plans for 11 nuclear bunkers to be constructed in Canada during the Cold War. However, by 1965 plans for a few of the provincial bunkers were suspended indefinitely.
Stay tuned for a comprehensive history of the bunkers…