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Photo: P199, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Built at the height of the Cold War (1959-1961) as the Central Emergency Government Headquarters, this giant four-story underground bunker reinforced to stand a 5-megaton nuclear blast was designed as the site where Canada's leadership could ride out a nuclear holocaust. The name is a play on the name of the Prime Minister at the time, John Diefenbaker. Decommissioned in 1994, the site is now run by a dedicated group of volunteers working to preserve and restore it to its glory days in that paranoid era, complete with period maps showing what parts of Canada (and the US) would have faced nuclear doom in the event of World War III. Self-guided tours with audio narration. Or, 90–120-minute English tours at 11AM and 2PM W-F and 11AM and 1PM Sa Su, French tours W Sa Su 2PM, more on weekends and in the summer. Probably wise to book in advance. Bring a sweater.
The Diefenbunker, formerly known by its military designation, Canadian Forces Station Carp (CFS Carp), is a large underground four-storey reinforced concrete bunker and nuclear fallout shelter located in the rural area of Carp, Ontario approximately 30 km (19 mi) west of downtown Ottawa. Between 1957 and 1961, during the Cold War the Government of Canada led by then Prime Minister John Diefenbaker authorized the Diefenbunker to be designed and built as the Central Emergency Government Headquarters (CEGHQ Carp) in an attempt to ensure the continuity of government subsequent to a nuclear weapons attack by the Soviet Union. In 1994, CFS Carp was decommissioned and closed.
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