1. Discovery of facility related document, drawings (and keys) in a locked room in the newly taken-over bunker. 1994-5

2. Visit by Diefenbunker Volunteers to CFB Borden to see and stay in the (then, 1998-9) recently decommissioned, but still building-functional Regional Emergency Government HQ (for Ontario). We were able to do a detailed tour of the building and demo of the generator start-up procedures. Based upon that visit (and a follow up a few years later),(after hearing in the early 2000s that the building was slated for sealing/destruction) we were able to acquire one of the main generators from that facility. While the Torbolton Historical Society subsidized the generator’s transportation to the Diefenbunker, it took us a year or so be able to pay the out-of-pocket costs of Lorne Montgomery (local heavy equipment contractor) to partially disassemble it and reinstall it in the 100 level machine room. http://g.co/maps/nmuj5

3. Discovery of and visit to the hidden Municipality of Toronto Re-entry operations control centre in the backyard of an old farmhouse in Aurora, ON. This happened on the same trip (above) as the visit to the Borden REGHQ. http://g.co/maps/8u4y7

4. Visiting the Kemptville and Carleton Place CRUs.(1998-2002+) to see what artifacts (Maps, photos, devices, etc.) were there. There were many but in the case of Kemptville the RCMP had taken over the building and they were not disposed to giving us much. We do have pictures in the archives. The building has since been leveled. The Carleton Place building is still in existence and it might have some stuff in the basement (where the fallout shelter for about 125 officials was located. I believe we did get some wall maps from that location.

5. Early Jan 2001 trip by two volunteers to CFB Shilo REGHQ to identify and mark those items of furniture and equipment that could be used in reconstruction the offices and other rooms in the 1961-early 80s. A year or so later we were able to raise the finds to hire a tractor trailer to go out and retrieve the items that DND had kept in storage for us. These acquisitions are the basis for most of the 60s to early 80s furniture and some of the equipment that now ‘dresses’ the bunker re-creations.

4. Acquisition of Public Works Canada Civil Defence/Emergency Preparedness files including the plans for community fallout shelters, etc.

5. Finding the abandoned construction site of what was to be a second bunker site. http://g.co/maps/cf4hd

6. Finding and getting our hands on the items rescued by the Cdn War Museum from the bunker before it was to be closed and sealed by DND (as the Richardson facility at Perth had been shortly before). The War Museum still has some items that we are trying to get our hands on on a long term loan basis (radsniffer, EmGovSitCen Alerts Status Board, NORAD NUDET Base Map, teletypes, etc.).

7. The closure of the Canadian Emergency Preparedness Collage in Arnprior and the reacquisition and reinstalling of bunker EmGovSitCen furniture and audio-visual operations briefing equipment back in the bunker.

We failed to get our hands on the sample fallout shelters they had buried on the property – some were destroyed, some were ‘given’ to locals to use for other purposes.

8. Reacquiring and reinstalling the CBC Control Room from the War Museum.

9. Finding the drawings for and the reconstruction/re-equiping of the Federal Warning Centre Display, Plotting and Signal Rooms 2006-2011.

10. The search for FWC Iconorama related information and equipment

11. The story behind the demolition of the REGHQ site in Penhold Alberta. For photos of the demolition of this facility visit http://www.pinetreeline.org/photos/p31-01.html This site pictorially documents the destruction of the REGHQ at Penhold AB.  It was one of six such fallout shelters located across Canada and part of a system of bunkers that included the blast and fallout protected Diefenbunker.  The REGHQs were intended to be used by federal and provincial officials in the event of nuclear attack on North America. The Penhold bunker was completed in 1964. The bunker was 77,000 square feet and there was also a smaller bunker (17,000 square feet) south of the base which is also being demolished. As well as being the location from which Survival Operations/ Re-entry into target areas would have been coordinated the regional bunkers also served as Provincial Warning Centres and as military communications centres. This site has great photos (6 to 13; 15 to 50; 52 to 82) and a copy of a newspaper article on the demolition (83).  This is the only such bunker that has been destroyed; most of the other REGHQs have been simply sealed.

REGHQ at Debert, NS

12. The failure to save the REGHQ site in Debert NS as an historical site/museum (it has been converted into a datastorage site “Dataville” under private management – very uncooperative with our efforts to save it or even acquire any of the valuable equipment/artifacts it contained). This bunker is now part of the Colchester (Industrial) Park -the former CFB DEBERT – which is located 4 kms north of Exit 13 on Nova Scotia’s Highway 104. This bunker was in excellent condition, virtually unchanged (with the exception of some missing furniture and equipment) from its operational days in the 60s, 70s and 80s. For a period of time up until a few years ago it was open for tours a few weekends every year.  This bunker was in the best shape of any such facility in Canada (and in the authors view is worthy on being declared a national historic site as a natural complement to the Diefenbunker and the role it played in Canada’s Cold War history). A Parks Canada employee did manage to get some artifacts out of the Debert REGHQ in the late 90s.

13. A bunch of Bunker Troglodytes visited BFC Valcartier early 2000s. Had a good tour but no response to info exchange cooperation of for any of the remaining stuff as artifacts. In any case the place had been extensively gutted and reconfigured for Y2K preparations. Came back in a blinding snow storm! http://g.co/maps/pvqbu

14. Vote at West Carleton Townshop to continue to try and sell the bunker but to allow the “Diefenbunker Development Corporation to buy it for $3. 1997-8

Sergey Ivanov (Russian Defence Minister 2001-2007)

15. Visit by Sergie Ivanov, Russian Minister of Defence (ca 2004) with four Russian Army generals and two navel commanders shepherded by two RCMP officers. They seemed to enjoy their visit and showed a great deal of interest in an exhibit we had on display at the time on Cold War Toys (on both sides of the iron curtain). Ivanov indicated interest in helping us with a Russian Civil Defense exhibit – and on the spot appeared to assign one of the naval commanders to look after it – unfortunately nothing came of it. It would have made a great exhibit because the Soviets were highly invested in civil defence for their people.