The Debert Diefenbunker: a nuclear bunker bought at a tax sale
The Debert Diefenbunker is a two-storey Cold War shelter buried at Debert, Nova Scotia. Prime Minister John Diefenbaker ordered it in 1959, it was finished in 1964, and Jonathan Baha’i bought it at a Colchester County tax sale in 2012 for about $31,000.
Jonathan Baha’i paid about $31,000 at a Colchester County tax sale in 2012 for a two-storey building buried at Debert. It had been built to keep 350 people alive through a nuclear war, and the last owner’s plans for it had fallen apart.
Why was the Diefenbunker built at Debert?
Prime Minister John Diefenbaker ordered the shelter at Camp Debert in 1959, one of a network of Cold War bunkers soon nicknamed Diefenbunkers. It was finished in 1964.
It held enough food and water for 350 government and military leaders to last 90 days. It was designed to survive a five-megaton blast two kilometres away. There were decontamination showers and a CBC studio to report on the aftermath.
What happened to the Diefenbunker after the Cold War?
The bomb never came. Decommissioned in the 1990s, the bunker was sold in 2008 to a buyer who planned a data centre. That plan petered out, the taxes went unpaid, and the county put it up for sale.
Baha’i talked of a data centre too, but what worked was people. Late in 2018 the doors opened for tours, laser tag and a Cold War escape room. Then COVID-19 shut it all down.
So what do you do with a fallout shelter nobody can visit? Sell it as one.
Is the Diefenbunker becoming a hotel?
Baha’i and his business partner, Paul Mansfield, began turning the bunker into The Diefenbaker, private suites sold as a luxury safe haven. In ordinary times it would run as a boutique hotel. If the worst ever happened, the owners could seal the blast doors and stay. In September 2025, CBC reported that 11 suites had sold. That December, a Canadian Press report said no sales had been announced. Both said the owners expected the work to be finished in 2027.
The shelter built for the end of the world is still under the ground at Debert, and the man who paid about $31,000 for it is still betting somebody will want a room there.
Quick facts
- Where
- Camp Debert, Colchester County
- Ordered
- 1959, by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker
- Finished
- 1964
- Built for
- 350 government and military leaders, for 90 days
- Decommissioned
- The 1990s
- Tax sale
- 2012, about $31,000
