The record-breaking success of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer shined a fresh light on the changes the development of the A-bomb wrought on America and Japan. But there was another country that was left out of that portrayal. The eye-opening feature-length documentary Atomic Reaction, which is about to receive a new series of high-profile showings, reveals the pivotal role Canada played in making nuclear warfare a reality—and the consequences of that involvement that persist to this day.
With gripping detail and accuracy, the film explains that two essential components of the atomic bomb—a reliable source of high-grade uranium pitchblende ore and a refinery to process the highly radioactive material—were obtainable only in Canada. That was thanks to one Gilbert LaBine, who in 1930 had discovered a rare radium deposit on the shore of Great Bear Lake, near the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Territories, and had then gone on to build his own state-of-the-art radium refinery in Port Hope, Ontario.
The documentary follows the centrality of these developments to the now-famous Manhattan Project, with workers at the refinery toiling away while an international team of scientists and physicists conducted its clandestine experiments with nuclear fission in Los Alamos, New Mexico. We also learn about the tragic effect the Canadian portion of the initiative had on the indigenous men who worked to support LaBine’s uranium mine, many of whom ended up dying of cancer-related diseases in the 1960s. The sobering coda? Today, Port Hope is the site of the largest soil-remediation cleanup in Canadian history, with a budget currently pegged at 2.6 billion dollars.
The movie lays out these momentous and sometimes horrific events with a full flair for drama and a journalistic commitment to the truth. Audiences will have a chance to see for themselves when Atomic Reaction plays the Durham Region International Film Festival (DRIFF) October 24-26, followed one day later by an airing on the CBC Documentary Channel and on CBC GEM starting January 10, 2025. A bit farther down the line, the film will be screened Sunday, November 24, at the Regent Theatre in Picton, Ontario. That showing will be presented by RBC Wealth Management, with all proceeds going to the PECM Hospital Foundation. Executive producers Bernie Finkelstein and David Hatch and director Michèle Hozer will all be on hand for a Q&A following the viewing of their film.
