Don’t Talk About Your Fallout Shelter: Civilian Perceptions of Threat and Structural Responses during the Cold War in Regina, Saskatchewan between 1958 and 1963

Authors

Julie Mushynsky

Abstract

During the Cold War, the Canadian government initiated a civil defence campaign urging private citizens to construct shelters to protect themselves from the effects of nuclear fallout. Historians have argued that Canadians did not prepare for a nuclear attack and that the fallout shelter campaign failed. Historical estimates on shelter construction are problematic. Like many Cold War facilities and structures, fallout shelters were constructed in secret and concealed. Using archival research, oral histories and data from a survey of private fallout shelters in Regina, Saskatchewan, this article argues that Regina’s citizens did not ignore the campaign and built a range of shelter types.

Recommended Citation

Mushynsky, Julie "Don’t Talk About Your Fallout Shelter: Civilian Perceptions of Threat and Structural Responses during the Cold War in Regina, Saskatchewan between 1958 and 1963." Canadian Military History 28, 1 (2019)