At the height of the Cold War, Canada’s Prime Minister, John Diefenbaker, ordered the construction of a massive four-story subterranean bunker just 40km outside of Ottawa.The bunker (called Diefenbunker) was designed to house 535 of Canada’s military and intellectual elite in the event of a nuclear attack.
Sure it sounds somewhat silly now (I mean would Ottawa really have been a target?) but at the time, the fear was real.
Diefenbunker was intended to be a secret project, but the sheer scale of construction (from 1959-1961) forced the Canadian government to admit that they were, in fact, building a giant fallout shelter.
Beyond the hulking steel door entrance is the Blast Tunnel, designed to bear the brunt of any explosion on ground level.
From there, it feels like stepping back in time. Really.
It’s essentially a time-warp to the 1960’s.
From archaic medical equipment to communications rooms brimming with ticker-tape, its a sort-of militaristic time capsule.
In the event of a nuclear war, the bunker was stocked with provisions for 30 days. Not sure that would have been long enough for the radiation to subside, but hey, what do I know?
In addition to living quarters, the bunker is outfitted with everything necessary to run the day-to-day operations of the government and to conduct a full-scale war. It even houses a CBC radio station that’s still on the air today.
It was a rainy day when I visited and aside from one other woman, the place was completely empty.
The emptiness was wonderful for the ability to roam free, but was also slightly erie given the sterile feeling of the facility and the whole “trapped underground in the 1960’s” thing.
By far my favorite room was the Strategic Maps Room with floor to ceiling maps lining each wall (I’m a sucker for all things cartography).
On the way out of the bunker, I discovered that you can rent out the rec room and kitchen for private events – can you say awesome birthday venue!?!
Even though Diefenbunker isn’t located in the city, it’s absolutely worth a visit! It proved to be one of the most interesting, unique and unexpected things I did while visiting Ottawa.
