IMPIGT
Oil $OOIilTY
IHE DEBATE OVER NUCTEAR WARHEADS
After the NORAD' igreement,.the United- States
moved to,station 56 BomarCB anti-aircraJt missiles
Canadian NORADi, sites, .The missiles were
equipped with nuclear warheads. In 1960, when
Canadians became aware that there.were nuclear
warheads in the country, there was an uproar:
Should Canada adopt nuciear weapons? Was this a
result of United States'' domination of, Canadian
defence policy?
Both the Canadian andAmerican governments
had to agree to put the armed forces on any alerE,;
but the NORAD forces were clearly under an American commander" The atmosphere became even
more tense when federal Civil Defence authorities
distributed pamphlets with plans for makingunderground shelters. These shelteri were to protect peo-;
ple from nuclear fallout. While experts debated on
whether these shelters. would serve any purposer
about 2400 were built in Toronto alone" at a cost of
about $4000 each-
at
Anti-nuclear protesters, convinced that the
arms build-up would not stop the Soviets from
attacking the West, demoostrated across the coun-.
try. People understood that a nuciear war could
mean complete and utter destruction.
The controversy over nuciear weapons in canada led John Diefenbaken who had become prime
minister in 1957. to refuse nuclear warheads fort}te
Bomarc missiles. He felt that arming the Bomarcs.
with nuclear warheads wouid set back the hopes for
nucleardisarmament in theworld. He preferred storing nuciear warheads south of the border until they
were needed- His opponents argued that Bomarc
missiies without nuciear warheads were useiessThe question became critical during the Cuban
Missile Crisis in 1962, when the world came dan-
L.
2
3'
A Ciail Defence fallout shelter is inspected.
by
Metro Chairrnan Fred Gardiner in Toronto
in
. 1960:,
Canadians took the threat of nuclear
-:":*o".rioustygerously close to nuclear war. Cuba was
a com_
munist country. The Soviet Union had instaljed
missiles in Cuba. From the Cuban launch sites,
missiles could attack most major American and
Canadian cities. The United States demanded
the
Soviet missiles be removed. It blockaded the
shi+.
ment of Soviet military equipment to CuUi,.', I '
Thg United States asked Canada as its
defence partner, to put all Canadian iorcei',on
alert. War was the next step. Canada hesitated
to
put its forcgs onalert, causing a deep rlft
betr,veen,
,
the Am eric an and Caaadian governm entC j;Canaaa,S'
Bomarc missles
' warheads
*"." *rin-oi #;;;r,
ffi";
"
Diefenbaker accused the Unitei States ,; pres_
of
suring Canada. He also accused UberJ leader pear_
son of flip-flopping on the issue of
"
*".t;;;
";;.
Pearson had opposed nuclear missiles
in Canada,
but in 1963,decided that Canada had an obligation.t'o
tearson was elected as prime,
minister in T::.S:r
1963, ttfe-'Biimari missiles *ere armed
with nuclear warheads. The issue highlighted the
controversy in Canada gyelJearq of nuclear attack ,"
on the one hand, and th9 desire for a strong antiI'nuclear poticy on'ttre'ot6iii'i'.:' -' "'
l:"gf,
Do you think canada should have accepted
How would you have reacted to
the nucrear warheads?
the cuban missile crisis if you were riving
in
Canada in 1962?
Do we face the same threat of a World War lll, even more
destructive than Worid
Wars I and ll today?