In this episode, Al goes deep underground to visit the Diefenbunker: Canada’s Cold War Museum. He speaks with Monique Goffinet, Executive Director, and Jordan Vetter, Marketing and Communications Manager about the history of the bunker, its role during the Cold War, and its transition from a military site to a museum.
In this episode, Al goes deep underground to visit the Diefenbunker: Canada’s Cold War Museum. He speaks with Monique Goffinet, Executive Director, and Jordan Vetter, Marketing and Communications Manager about the history of the bunker, its role during the Cold War, and its transition from a military site to a museum.
Listen to this historic and fascinating story!
You can learn more about Diefenbunker at Diefenbunker.ca.
YWAO Diefenbunker_mixdown
Allan: [00:00:00] Hello everyone. I'm Al Grego and this is the Yes, We Are Open Podcast.
It is my last day in the Ottawa area. I'm in a village called Carp, about 33 kilometers west of the city's downtown core. The village is nestled in the scenic Ottawa Valley on the Carp River. The population of around 2000 carp is steeped in history. With the roots dating back to the 19th century. The village retains much of its heritage through preserved architecture and local traditions.
As I drove northwest along Carp Road [00:01:00] to my right, I noticed one of those traditions, the carp farmer's market, as denoted by a charming building with red siding just beyond some gates with the words Carp Agricultural Society above them. This seemed to be the entrance to fairgrounds, which were impressive both in their size and makeup.
There's a lot of activity happening on those grounds today. As it turns out, I was visiting just ahead of their annual carp Fair. And everyone was busy in preparation. According to their website, the Annual Carp Fair is one of the most popular rural fairs in all of Ontario, featuring a variety of agricultural exhibits, a midway, many shows, musical artists, antique displays, strongman competitions, and much, much more.
Not gonna lie, I was a little sad. I was leaving. Carp is your prototypical quiet rural town, but it was a town with a secret. The secret, so well kept that up until not so long ago, even its residents didn't know about it. That's where I'm headed now, [00:02:00] just past the carp fairgrounds, as the houses become fewer and far between until I finally make a left onto a rural road with no houses.
There doesn't seem to be much to see, but there are gates and then a parking lot, and then another gate leading to a helicopter, landing pad and a shed. The shed doesn't look like much, but looks, in this case are definitely deceiving. This shed is just an entrance, an entrance to a wondrous place, four stories underground.
And this place is the subject of today's story, Diefenbunker.
I approach the entrance to the shed. It's a cool drizzly morning. The bunker isn't open to the public yet. So I get buzzed in. Hello. Hi. So Allan Grego from uh, Moneris,[00:03:00]
and as soon as I step foot inside the shed, it's my immediate left. There's an exhibit with some bombs and pictures of a jet. Then there's a massive bomb, but the size of a small car. Above that is a sign and logo for the Diefenbunker: canada's Called War Museum. I walk past the exhibits through the first set of doors down a tunnel.
Museum Emloyee: Good morning.
Allan: Morning.
Later I find out this is called the Blast Tunnel. The tunnel leads me down about a hundred meters to another exhibit. This time it's a video being projected on the Blast tunnel floor, telling the story of the Cold War. I turn right and walk through two thick steel doors to the welcome desk.
Jordan: Morning.
Allan: Morning.
Jordan: Are you Allan?
Allan: Yes.
Jordan: Welcome. I'm Jordan.
Allan: That's where I meet Jordan.
Jordan: Emails there. I'll be joined today. I'm our marketing communications manager.
Allan: Jordan takes me down a level to a meeting room that could be a large conference room in any [00:04:00] typical office only there were no windows on account of us being one story underground.
Yes, I meet Jordan's colleague, Monique, and the three of us settle in for our interview.
Monique: Hi, I'm Monique Goffinet. I'm the Executive Director of the Diefenbunker: Canada's Cold War Museum.
Jordan: Hello, I'm Jordan Veter, and I'm the Marketing and Communications Manager at the Diefenbunker.
Allan: So let's start with when. The Diefenbunker opened.
Jordan: The Diefenbunker's history goes back quite a long way, starting with its commissioning and construction. Under Prime Minister John Diefenbaker. Construction of the facility was between 1959 and 1961, and by 1962 the site was in full operations as a military communication site. Known as CFS Carp. This site was communicating with a network of other bunkers all across the country as well as with other communications operations within the NATO network.
So lots of important work going on here, but at the time a lot of it was not known to the [00:05:00] public. It was quite secret the work that was going on here.
Allan: So there are other bunkers like this. Uh, in other parts of Canada?
Jordan: There are. So the site here at CFS Carp was known as. C-E-G-H-Q or the Central Emergency Government Headquarters. There were also a number of regional headquarters in almost every province across the country, and these were much smaller than the site. Here we are a four story underground facility and a hundred thousand square feet. Many of the others were at least a quarter of the size.
Monique: This is about government continuity, right? Should there ever have been an imminent threat of nuclear war here in Ottawa? This was the location for our federal government to come to, but of course across Canada. Every provincial government would need a form of continuity.
Allan: Well, right, so an evacuation plan into their bunker. Yeah, their respective bunkies.
Monique: But to your question, do these exist across Canada? Like here? They exist in form, maybe not as large as what we see here at the Diefenbunker, but they're not museums. They aren't open to the public and they're not in the shape that you're going to see here, which really is still to this day, somewhat [00:06:00] operational.
We still have a radio state, the ham radio group that comes here and is. Broadcasting 24 hours a day, actually. Mm-hmm. There's the ability for them to receive signals coming from across the whole entire globe, in fact. And the reason for that is should there have been a nuclear war, ham radio was the way of communicating an emergency response.
Jordan: The site. While it did operate as a military communication site, we alluded to the fact that it was ready at any point in time. If there were to be a nuclear attack on the country. So in that scenario, the bunker would've sheltered lockdown completely for 30 days, and it was ready to accommodate 535 people.
This would've been key government and military officials, as well as civilians required to keep the site operating and to ensure continuity of government.
Allan: Now, heaven forbid that anything happened. Would you still be able to use this?
Jordan: Unfortunately, no. Okay. We would all like to think we'd be [00:07:00] safe here. Um, but the site was constructed thinking of 1960s nuclear weapons, and today everything is.
Far, much more powerful.
And not only would we not be able to withstand a blast, there are also just not the same facilities as there were to keep 535 people underground, for example. While the equipment is still operating with the original machine room, we have obviously working lights and running water and that sort of thing.
There is no functioning. Cafeteria space anymore, we can't feed that many people for 30 days and it would just not be a viable shelter.
Monique: This facility is more geared towards being a museum and a place for community and public engagement, but I also like to make a joke that Monday to Friday when I'm here for whatever hours onwards, I feel like the safest person in Canada.
Allan: Sure, yeah. Literally in a bunker. Yeah.
Monique: Literally.
Allan: Normally I would ask the [00:08:00] business where they got their name. Now this obviously here, the Diefenbunker. It's pretty obvious where the name came from. Did the Prime Minister ever actually visit the site?
Jordan: So while the name Diefenbunker is, of course, it's a bit of a moniker. Prime Minister Diefenbaker, and not a name that he came up with himself, but.
One that was a bit of a, a mockery, you can call it that while he supported the commissioning of this facility in 1959, he never actually set foot in the Diefenbunker.
Allan: No?
Jordan: And this was for one main reason is that if you were designated to be stationed here in the event of a nuclear attack. You could not bring anyone with you. That was your role, your duty to the country, and you had to make the decision. Are you going to accept that position? Come in the bunker, perform your job, who knows what might be there or not, be there for you at home after that 30 days, or do you decline your position and stay with your family, protect them, and do what you need to do at home.
And Prime Minister Diefenbaker. Had said very clearly that he would not leave his [00:09:00] wife Olive behind, so he never set foot in the Diefenbunker.
Allan: Interesting.
Just a quick question about the area about Carp, the township, you know, we're about half an hour outside of Ottawa. Is there any particular reason they chose this area to do this?
Jordan: There definitely is. As I mentioned a little bit, the site was not built to withstand a direct hit from a nuclear attack.
Yeah. It was actually built to withstand the force of a five megaton nuclear bong from a distance of 1.8 kilometers away. Okay. But the thinking was at the time that if anything, the attack would come. For the Parliament buildings downtown and the way the winds blow and kind of the fact that we're in a little bit of a valley out here in Carp it seemed like the perfect destination for a site of this kind.
So out of the way of the fallout, potentially that would've happened if there was any attack on downtown
Allan: and Carps a small town. I imagine in those days small towns talk, right? They, they must know that there's [00:10:00] something going on. Here, and that was top secret. How did the government handle that?
Monique: Well, it's an interesting side note because if you look back in the newspapers of the time, the reason why it's called the Diefenbunker was actually because there was somewhat of speculation and noticing that I love this story that.
There was a flatbed truck full of however many toilets that was coming into a facility that was supposed to be, what were they calling it? It was supposed to be a radio signal. Signals establishment. Establishment. You don't have that many people at a small radios, yeah. Signals establishment. So the locals were saying something.
Is different here. Something must be up. So it didn't take very long for the news to get wind of what was occurring out here, but people were not aware of the extent,
Allan: right,
Monique: of what was happening. Um,
Allan: 'cause from the road, all you see is a, a hill. And maybe some tower
Monique: and a radio tower.
Allan: Yeah, some towers.
Monique: It's like a radio signal.
Allan: Yeah. But that's it. But it's a big piece of property for there to just be a hill and
Monique: it sure is. Yeah. And when you come and visit us, you get to see just [00:11:00] how extensive the construction of this facility would have been going down four stories.
Allan: Yeah. How do you even hide a project like that from the surrounding area?
Monique: Great question. Are we talking currently or
when they were cons?
Allan: Like I'm looking even short looks,
Monique: luckily they didn't have Instagram and Snapchat right at the time, and so people weren't able to, in real time, be sharing exactly what they were seeing. And hearing happening in the area.
Jordan: And I think it really comes down to what you said of it. You can't hide. Construction of this scale, but people definitely knew something was going on, just not to what extent. So they did see trucks coming and going down the road. Obviously there is a lot of concrete and rebar that was used in the construction. There's 32,000 cubic yards of hand poured concrete that went into the facility and 5,000 tons of steel. So there's no way that you're,
Allan: no, you can't hide that. No. If I'm a teenager in this town, I'm definitely riding my bike here all every day to see what's going on.
Monique: There was, uh, records that there was extreme security in the area.
Allan: Mm-hmm.
Monique: Individuals that were hired to do the construction. [00:12:00] There was discussion about how they would've come from away to make sure that they were even not involved, or they would've been under agreement.
This would've. Extremely difficult to hide, but the mandate of what it was intended for Yeah. Was what was secret
Jordan: in 1994 was what many of us know to be the end of the Cold War. Of course, there's debate over whether that's still continuing today. But most of the threat to Canada had ceased at that point, and the government decided to decommission all of the bunker sites across Canada, including this one and.
At that point, there was lots of discussion. What would become of this site? Would it be filled in, would it be used for training or other purposes? And ultimately, it was a group of volunteers that stepped forward to preserve the building. Many of them who had been former CFS cart personnel, and they decided it was work preserving the site and wanted to turn it into the museum.
So they did their lobbying and all their pitches and were successful in. [00:13:00] Taking control of the site to be able to then turn it into what we know today. The museum opened in 1998, but that wasn't without many years of refurbishing and ensuring it was actually a usable space for people to come back into because in 1994, everything was completely stripped out, right?
So after it was decommissioned, the military and other crown assets and that sort of thing took everything out. And everything that you see now has actually been a long effort of resourcing and finding these assets and bringing them back into the museum today. So we credit a lot of that work to the original founders and volunteers of the museum, but of course that work is still ongoing.
Sure. And we were able to incorporate, also register as a charitable organization and by 1998 could open to the public for the first time, which was also. Interestingly, for many of the former CFS car personnel was also the first time that they were able to see some of the spaces in the site. Because when they were working here, a lot of it was top secret.
Allan: They had no clearance.
Jordan: Yeah, exactly.
Allan: Wow.
Monique: And for their families or [00:14:00] members of, of their close knit friends, they weren't able to talk to them about this portion of their life. So we have a number of people who still to this day will come through on tours that. They worked in these walls, but they could not share that with their significant others, those around them, and now they have the opportunity to walk through it. It's extremely meaningful when you hear the stories that they're sharing with our tour guides.
Chris: My name is Chris Bisaillion. Amateur Radio. Call sign, VE 3 CBK.
Allan: And Chris, you said you were stationed here for a bit when it was still commissioned.
Chris: I got the pleasure of working here only one weekend when it was active. Okay. I was with the local communication reserve seven six recon regimen on exercise that included the bunker.
Allan: And uh, what was it like walking down that blast tunnel for the first time?
Chris: It was amazing. Yeah. It was a bit, a bit scary. Yeah. For a young man coming down that tunnel. Meeting my [00:15:00] escort. You said to me, this is where you eat. This is where you sleep. This is where you work. Don't wander. So now as a tourist, anybody can walk anywhere in this bunker.
Allan: Yeah. You're a little jealous of that now.
Chris: I've seen some things that I didn't get to see back then. Yeah.
Allan: So you were here before decommissioning. How would you say the state of it reflects what it was like back then? Do, is it pretty close?
Chris: Yes. I would say the bunker has been very well preserved as an artifact.
And coming here and as the regimen and seeing how the communication worked and the backup to the backup, it was a pretty amazing communication facility.
Allan: So talk about that time and maybe some of what went into restoring this into a place where we could have visitors here. Now.
Jordan: In 1998, the museum was actually initially a volunteer run organization.
So started very grassroots, was a small group of people. Pretty much doing what they could to bring back assets to the site and figure out what's the best way to bring the public in. We've obviously come a long way since then. We still [00:16:00] have a very dedicated core of volunteers, but now are governed by a board of directors and have a full-time team of staff in the time, the last 27 years now that it's been, we've done everything from.
Going to crown assets to dig up what might be ours, whether it's actually from our bunker or maybe another bunker that was in the network. We also take those sorts of things back to help animate the spaces in the museum. Over the years, we've also introduced many new exhibitions, so not only. Being able to see what the site would've looked like.
Mm-hmm. But adding some sort of interpretation so that it's more accessible for different audiences. And pulling out some of those stories from the Cold War that you may not be able to tell or know just by looking at the objects that are in here.
Monique: I like that word, animating the space. Every single day that I show up here are collections and curator, it's a coordinator at collections, is talking to us about.
Assets that they may have found or the ones that are here, and they've researched them and understanding exactly where they've come from. There are so many different decades that are represented here. As you walk through this [00:17:00] facility, you'll see, and the museum itself, some of the rooms look like they're 1961 . Others look like there's technology from the 1990s, right? And also others have the color schemes and painting of the 1980s, right? There's a hospital area, there's a dentist. There's services that were required. If you had 535 people on a lockdown for 30 days. There's even a nuclear family kitchen, and that's one of my favorite spots to go and sit because I grew up in a home that was built in 1953 and that kitchen that was everywhere animating the space, doesn't just happen through the furniture and the furnishings. It happens through the stories that oral history that we're able to capture and to visit us, and those are so important for us, but there's more that's happening every day that we're better understanding this. Story of what truly happened here and how it impacted people's lives within the facility, if you will, and those that lived outside of it. Because when we talk about a 30 day lockdown, [00:18:00] imagine going to work every single day understanding that you may not be coming out of there for 30 days. And also whoever was on the outside. Potentially, yeah. Is no longer there. And you need to know that every morning that you leave to go to work.
Allan: Talk about some of the, the attractions here, then it's operating as a museum and yet you say four levels of stuff that used to be top secret that now people can witness. What other kind of attractions do you offer?
Monique: So I'm really excited by the fact that we have things that are unique, not just through the facility, but also offerings that cover a lot of different interests.
For example, we will have an artist in residence happening. We have a live radio station where people can see the ham operator. Working and they will explain to them who they spoke with and where they were from across the world, we have an escape room.
Allan: I was just gonna,
Monique: how cool is that?
Allan: I was waiting for you to, to say escape room because Yeah, that's very cool actually.
Monique: Now, if you've ever enjoyed [00:19:00] doing an escape room, imagine doing that in a cold war bunker.
You can't get that experience anywhere else. I'm pretty sure in the world, actually. So these are unique offerings that we have. We obviously have for the younger groups, we have summer camps, spy camps, if you will, that they're called, and those type of engaging aspects are really important for the next generation.
Jordan: We really have to keep in mind too, that we are. Canada's Cold War Museum. Yeah. And to us, this is more than just the story of the Diefenbunker, but all of the people and even the communities and what life was like in Canada at the time of the Cold War, and I think there's so much there that's relevant even for younger generation.
Monique: We're looking nationally and internationally with things like the Speaker series that is available and free to people to watch online. So we're doing some expanding work there. As well as some digital work that will be available, and those are great tools for educators and for homeschoolers and for folks that are just in a different part of Canada and have not [00:20:00] yet been able to come through the Blast tunnel.
Allan: Now that you can be open to what you are in the community, talk about maybe your place in the community here in Carp.
Monique: Yeah, we're at the Carp Fall Fair.
Outside the Carp Fair.
Allan: That's just right across the street, which again, which is hilarious. Again, it kind of outlines where everything was happening in town, not the fall Fair. And then right across the road is this secretive place that no one knew about. But now they know about it. So
Monique: now they know. And now they come by and visit us. And actually we do have a lot of locals who are return members. There is a membership that you can participate in here. And that we do wanna promote because we would like more and more people to take advantage of that.
It allows 'em also to have. Inside scoop on what's happening within the facility. Any changing moment, and I like to use the word evolving moment. We are constantly evolving with our story, with new exhibits and doing outreach with people like the BIA here in Carp, so that we understand how to be a better neighbor to everyone and also [00:21:00] encourage people to come to Carp.
Jordan: Not only are we active in the community, but we also like to. Reach beyond and the whole city of Ottawa as well. But one of the great initiatives that we introduced this summer was a partnership with the Canadian War Museum, and we were able to offer a free shuttle bus to bring people between our two museums. So things like this, we're always looking for new ways to connect with other museums or other organizations and bring in more visitors, but also people that have maybe never heard of us before or never had a chance to visit before.
Allan: Since 1998. Since you've opened 27 years, what would you say has been the heyday for Diefenbunker?
Jordan: Obviously we're still growing our audiences to date, but our busiest year, aside from last year actually was in 2017 with Canada 150. Of course, there were lots of people coming to, yeah, the city of Ottawa, but actually one of our bigger milestones as an organization. Last year in 2024, we welcomed our 1000000th visitor since 1998. So that's where we're at, but also obviously looking to continue growing and reach our next million. So yeah, we're reaching [00:22:00] about 80,000 visitors on average.
Allan: That's great. I was joking about this with Jordan earlier, but imagine going to a place to work where you literally have something called a blast tunnel. Yeah, I can't even imagine.
Monique: Well, I'll say Allan, that the first day. Jordan and I were working together. She sent me a message and Can you meet me in the blast tunnel for your photo? And I thought, where am I working again?
Allan: Yeah, exactly.
Monique: And how cool is this? This is gonna be one of those pinch me moments of, you've gotta be kidding.
Allan: Pretty cool Indeed. The Diefenbunker offers a truly unique experience where, you know, it's coming in. Part two. This is where we dive into the struggle, but what kind of obstacles could possibly threaten a place designed to survive a literal nuclear blast? Stay tuned to find out.[00:23:00]
You are listening to, Yes, We Are Open. After the Cold War ended, the once decommissioned CFS Carp, a secret military radio outpost and underground bunker built to shelter Canadian officials during a nuclear attack was transformed by a nonprofit organization into the Diefenbunker: Canada's Cold War Museum.
For the past 27 years, the museum has been educating visitors about life during the Cold War era, but the journey hasn't been without its challenges. What were they? Let's find out.
If I were to ask you to think of a time period where the Diefenbunker struggled and maybe even was under threat of having to close their doors, what would that be?
Jordan: So I actually don't think we've been under threat of closing our doors, which is a great thing. Um, but a few moments in our history that I think are important to mention. Prior to 2010. The facility was actually only able to accommodate about 60 people at a time. And this [00:24:00] was because of the fire regulations and the building just was not up to code as it was built during the 1960s. So at the time to be able to enter the site, you had to be on a guided tour. That was the only option. But thanks to some grant funding from the federal government, we were able to do a complete retrofit of our fire and emergency systems. And this allowed us to increase our capacity to over 400 people, which now meant.
Not only obviously, can more people be in the building at a time, but this meant you didn't have to be on a guided tour. You could do your own exploration, which allowed us to open up new opportunities for visitors through exhibitions, other interpretation at the site. So yes, that was a good growing moment for us, but definitely was a challenge before 2010 to be able to. Keep enough people in the building and need the demand for everyone that was trying to get in.
Monique: I think it's fair to say that the years 2020 and 2021 were a struggle for [00:25:00] most facilities. Yeah, that would be open to the public and there were a struggle for the public. We talked earlier about the impacts of isolation and the lockdown for 30 days. Well, that impacted tourism as a whole, not just in the national capital region, not just in Carp, but across the world.
So, I mean, it's an understatement to say that it was a time of struggle, however. As Jordan had mentioned, there wasn't a threat of us closing our doors other than in compliance with what was required at the time. Right. But we had to adapt. So to this day, you'll still see, and I love this because this is a concept of evolution in a museum as well, we see remnants of some of those.
Arrow markers of this is the direction we need you to walk. Yeah. And those sorts of things because it tells the story itself as well of 2020 and 2021,
Jordan: I think we were closed for about nine months. During that time, we were actually, because of some of the initiatives we were able to implement, whether it was our online programming or just increasing our.
Um, like time ticketing and ways to make the visitor experience more comfortable for people that did want to visit. Um, because of all of that, we were [00:26:00] actually the first museum in Ottawa to reopen after the first set of lockdowns. So our team was quite agile during that time. Yes. It was a, a difficult time, but, um, we were able to come together and make that happen so that we could welcome visitors safely again.
Our visitorship came back quite quickly mm-hmm. Compared to a lot of other organizations. In 2020 and 2021, we had about 20,000 visitors, which is. For the time. Still reasonable. Yeah. Um, but by 2022, we had more than doubled and saw almost 50,000 visitors. And then by 2023, we were almost back up to pre COVID numbers.
Allan: And have you kept a lot of those innovations going because you found that they were helpful either way?
Jordan: For sure. So one example would be our educational program. So we launched a virtual version of those during COVID-19, and we still run those today. And that is another initiative which we are able to offer to.
[00:27:00] Educators and classrooms all across the country. So I think that's definitely one of the great wins that came out of the situation.
Monique: The use of technologies is incredible, of how much we realized that we've adopted and adapted to, and the classic word of. COVID-19 was pivot in tourism and this team did an exceptional job at that.
Allan: Coming up after the break, we find out what the future holds for the Diefenbunker.
Welcome back to Yes, we Reopen. Built in secret during the early sixties and decommissioned in the nineties. The Diefenbunker has since become a beloved landmark in Carp Ontario, drawing over a million curious visitors to this quiet little village. Despite its Cold War origins, the [00:28:00] team behind the Diefenbunker has turned it into a vibrant hub of education and storytelling, overcoming challenges to keep history alive.
So what does the future hold for the Diefenbunker? Let's find out.
For an organization that's focused on talking about the past, talking about the future might not be something you used to, but let's talk about the future of the Diefenbunker. What are your plans for the future?
Monique: So talking about the past is the future.
In fact, here at the Diefenbunker, because we do have plans to do some really engaging new exhibits. I don't wanna tell you all of those things quite yet, what they're going to be, but people will come to expect this in the coming years, is that this is an. Ever refreshing and evolving environment where stories shift exhibits are shifting and offerings will shift as well.
That being said, there are many great offerings already, so those will continue.
Jordan: I think another important piece too about our future is that. We have to remember this history [00:29:00] is not so distant. Suppose yes, and there are still many people alive that have memories of the Cold War stories of the Cold War, and like we mentioned earlier, for us, the oral histories are really important.
So we want to ensure that while this history is still fresh in people's minds and something that they're able to share with us, that we're also able to collect those stories so that we can better share them with the world and with our audiences. So we're always welcoming those new stories. Monique was saying earlier, people that come through the doors and maybe they recognize a space from when they worked here.
We love to hear those stories and try to sit down with them, get more of that information when we can, because those are really valuable to us as well.
Monique: The visitorship. The viewership, the listenership at large is curious in different ways that we've never seen before. They're engaging in different ways and much more deep levels of asking questions because it's pertinent to them. It is. Current history is now. Are present right when we talk about patterns that are occurring again. So we just wanna make sure [00:30:00] that we educate people so that they can do their best job as well in their actions towards educating and working towards peace amongst our country and, and the world. And it sounds like a really big mandate, but it is to educate on the Cold War. And that history is never ending as we start to scratch only the surface of what we understand.
When we talk about the future here, however, I think that there is a great opportunity to talk about our volunteer group, and we are looking to support them and also to encourage others to be recruited into that environment because as we have people coming through the doors, we've had the questions of how can I volunteer here? How could I get involved? And we wanna make sure that we reach out to the community at large and let them know that there is a place for them to do that here.
Allan: Yeah. So, Jordan, you've been here, you've been here longest. I'll start with you. Yeah. How do you feel about [00:31:00] your time here and what, uh, Diefenbunkers accomplished?
Jordan: Wow, that's a big question. Mm-hmm. Honestly, fantastic. Even in four years that I've been here, I feel like every week, month, year, everything is. Evolving and improving, and there's so much that our team brings to the table, and I also am very grateful to just be a part of the team and help make these things happen. I just like all the possibility that exists here.
Allan: And Monique. Yeah. I know you're very new here. You already talked about how surreal it was to walk through this blast tunnel for the first time. Yeah. And think I work here. So maybe just talk about what it's. Like working here and how you feel about the future?
Monique: I'm feeling extremely positive, especially after hearing what Jordan just had to say because my job excites me. I love not being the smartest person in the room, clearly, full disclosure, never the smartest person in the room, but I like smart people. And I am not intimidated by the fact that my [00:32:00] job in that is leveraging all of their great ideas.
I really love when you asked the question, how far away are we from Ottawa in the impact zone? I like to say our impact zone will be widened on the education of the Cold War in the coming years. And that's what really excites me. You need to come and see Yes, what we've done here. Okay. And, um, the team has done an incredible job and I'm very grateful to be a part of it.
Allan: Thank you very much, both of you for your time today. We appreciate it.
Monique and Jordan, is the Diefenbunker open?
Monique: Yes, we are open.
Allan: That's the story of the Diefenbunker. I had an awesome chat with Monique and Jordan, but let's be honest, the real star of the show was the bunker itself wandering through that Cold War time capsule was like stepping into a post-apocalyptic Wes Anderson set. I saw the Prime Minister's secretary's office, his office, his bedroom, and even en suite.
There were barracks, situation rooms, media [00:33:00] rooms, a commissary, a server room, a medical bay, and yes, a literal bank vault and CBC radio studio, basically everything you needed for an entire community of people. It's impossible not to imagine what life would've been like down there if the absolute worst had happened, and that's the magic of the place.
It pulls you in, makes you think, feel, empathize. Hopefully it also makes the lessons stick. Because a Diefenbunker isn't just a museum, it's a mission. Thanks to Monique and Jordan's passion for community, creativity, and education, the Cold War's cautionary tales are being passed on to future generations.
If the only followed from their work is a more peaceful world, then mission accomplished. Hey, if you ever find yourself in Ottawa, do yourself a favor. Make the drive to Carp and check out the Diefenbunker. I guarantee it will be a highlight of your visit.
Yes, we are open as a Moneris Podcast Production. I'd like to thank Chris, [00:34:00] Jordan and Monique for taking the time to share their story. You can learn more about Diefenbunker at Diefenbunker.ca. Follow them on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest @Diefenbunker. For more information about this podcast, visit our site YesWeAreOpenPodcast.com. If you'd like to support us, rate us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're a Canadian small business owner or know of one with an interesting story of perseverance to tell, I'd love to help tell it. You can contact me at podcast@moneris.com. Tune in next week for another story of small business struggle and survival on the Yes We Are Open Podcast.
I'm Al Grego. Thank you for listening.