A showdown is underway in Dufferin County after authorities told a man who built a huge underground bunker system on his property that it’s a safety hazard.
A property in Horning Mills is preparing for hundreds of people to arrive for the largest survivalist gathering in Canada over the weekend.
“I think a lot of people are emerging to take self-sustainably into their own hands,” says survivalist Che Bodhi.
People attending the event can take part in workshops, which include equipment training and wild game meal preparation. But it’s the tour of a giant underground shelter, the largest in Canada, which many are looking forward to.
The shelter is a collection of 42 school buses buried deep into the ground with steel and cement – a ‘safe place that survivalist Bruce Beach built in the 1980s.
The bunker has washroom facilities for men and women, canned food, fresh water and the entire thing is powered by giant generators.
But some authorities are not happy with the idea of taking people underground with no emergency exits.
Local police and emergency officials have tried to convince Beach not to have the gathering saying that having potentially hundreds of people in an underground bunker presents a health and safety issue.
But Beach says he’ll do the tours anyway.
“Some very personal animosities have opposed this for 35 years,” says Beach.
Survivalists are invited to camp on the property and the whole weekend is free of charge but police say they’ll be monitoring it.
