Here we have a mock up of a command center of the Cold War, one done with monitor screens that play out scenarios in English and French as to how a potential World War Three might play out. As events proceed and casualties mount, a scroll tells the story on the bottom of the screens.
Weapons of the Warsaw Pact are found here. On its own is one of the things that the Soviets built well- the Kalashnikov, which is all over the world today.
Here we see a NATO tank.
It was a tense time, with the very real possibility of nuclear annihilation.
Here we have the crest of NORAD- a joint agency of American and Canadian air forces which carries on today, vigilant about the possibility of a missile attack.
Here we have a UN Peacekeeper scout vehicle.
The concept dates to the Suez Crisis. Lester Pearson, who was our foreign minister at the time, proposed neutral soldiers be used to prevent the escalation of hostilities.
He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his concept, a replica of which is here. And he would later be one of our greatest prime ministers.
Canadians have taken part in numerous peacekeeping operations.
The era was, as noted, a time of worry about nuclear war, and a map of the continent is found here, with documents that get into things like fallout shelters.
In 1970, the country faced the October Crisis. FLQ terrorists, who had been active for years in bombings, kidnapped a Quebec provincial cabinet minister and a British diplomat. The former would die while the latter was freed. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, seen on screen speaking to a reporter about his decision to invoke the War Measures Act to bring the crisis to the end, was asked how far he would go. His answer was "just watch me."
Times change. Women were active in the military. A staff uniform and dress uniform stand in contrast to field utilities.
Interesting exhibition.
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