Willing and Unable: Civil Defence and Biopolitics in Post-War Toronto, 1948-1951

This dissertation examines the history of the City of Toronto’s civil defence program during the early stages of the Cold War. Developed in response to the shocking creation of nuclear weapons, civil defence was designed to ensure the survival and safety of local communities in the event of a nuclear war. Toronto’s conservative political elite championed the program, but even with the backing of this dominant force of local politics, the program proved impossible to implement. At its core, civil defence represented an expansion of the state’s traditional responsibility for defence matters into the private sphere. Toronto, however, could not accept the massive financial implications that resulted from this shift. As a result, the program faltered and failed to truly achieve any of its goals despite its support amongst the higher echelons of the city’s political body. Through examining the program’s history in Toronto, this dissertation explores the biopolitical implications that guided the creation of Canada’s civil defence program. At the same time, this work supplements more nationally focused narratives of the program’s history as presented by scholars such as Andrew Burtch. Influenced by American rhetoric and planning, municipal politicians in Toronto, despite their nationalistic rhetoric, often took their cues from the actions of their neighbours to the south, while simultaneously being influenced by homegrown anti-communism and jingoism. The history of Toronto’s civil defence program was often contentious and dramatic, as the political actors involved struggled to balance ideological aims against material realities. These struggles expose the biopolitical rationale behind Canada’s civil defence program, which in turn, highlights the lengths to which nation-states must go to ensure their continued dominance within civil society.

Department dc:contributor.department

History

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Sopko, Andrew Michael

Advisor dc:contributor.supervisor

• Brison, Jeffery

• biopolitics
• civil defence
• Cold War
• Canada
• Toronto
• postwar
• vital systems security
• defence

Statement dc:rights

• Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1974/36234

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:queensu.scholaris.ca:1974/36234