# Cabinet Conclusions on the Mid-Canada Line (1965)

Compiled by [Robin Monks](https://coldwar.tech/about), a Cold War archival expert.

*The Pearson Cabinet's own minutes recording the end of the Mid-Canada Line: the 30 March 1965 decision to close it, and the July 1965 transfer of the Great Whale River site to Quebec with the consent of its Indian and Eskimo residents.*

## Metadata

| Field | Value |
|-------|-------|
| Document Type | declassified |
| Creator | Cabinet of Canada / Privy Council Office |
| Date | 1965 |
| Classification | SECRET (declassified; LAC access code 90: Open) |
| Document ID | RG2 A-5-a, Volume 6271 |
| Original Language | english |

These three sets of Cabinet Conclusions (the formal minutes of Lester Pearson’s Cabinet, kept by the Privy Council Office and stamped SECRET at the time) record the end of the [Mid-Canada Line](https://coldwar.tech/systems/mid-canada-line) in the government’s own words. All three come from the same file at Library and Archives Canada (RG2, A-5-a, Volume 6271) and are now open. I pulled them because the Line’s shutdown is usually given as a bare date; here you can watch the actual decisions being taken.

## 30 March 1965: the Line is closed

Under the heading “Status of Mid-Canada Line,” Cabinet decided itself, acting on a memorandum from the Minister of National Defence (Cab. Doc. 144/65 of 23 March):

> The Cabinet agreed … that (a) the remaining portion of the Mid-Canada Line be closed operationally, effective March 31st, 1965, as proposed by the Minister of National Defence in his memorandum to Cabinet of March 23rd; and (b) interdepartmental consultations commence at once to determine the responsibility for existing facilities in support of continuing operations.
>
> -- Cabinet Conclusions, 30 March 1965 (this document, page 7)

The western half of the Line had already gone dark in 1964; this closed the rest. One day’s notice, in a single sentence, buried in an agenda between a nuclear submarine’s visit to Halifax and the Indian Claims Commission. *This document (30 March 1965) is attached above.*

## 14 July 1965: disposing of Great Whale River

With the Line closed, its sites had to be disposed of. The largest eastern site sat at Great Whale River (Poste-de-la-Baleine, now Kuujjuarapik) on Hudson Bay. In its afternoon session that day, Cabinet approved transferring the buildings and equipment there to the Province of Quebec; but the Prime Minister attached a condition that says a great deal about the moment:

> The Prime Minister noted that Article 8 of the draft agreement provided that Canada and Quebec would consult jointly with the Indians and Eskimos resident at Great Whale River. He did not propose to sign until this consultation had been carried out.
>
> -- Cabinet Conclusions, 14 July 1965 (afternoon session, No. 60A-65)

Read the July 14 conclusions: [download the PDF](https://coldwar.tech/media/pages/archive/documents/mcl-cabinet-conclusions-1965/c1d4fdad26-1783632073/cabinet-conclusions-mid-canada-line-1965-07-14.pdf). (The record also contains that morning’s separate meeting, No. 60-65, on postal strikes and the CF-5 aircraft.)

## 23 July 1965: the residents’ consent

Nine days later Cabinet returned to Great Whale River to record the outcome of that consultation. Officials had met the Indigenous people there on 20 July 1965; the minute notes the community’s insistence that only municipal services (not their education and welfare programs) were being handed to Quebec, and their consent on that basis:

> The Cabinet noted the remarks of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Northern Affairs and National Resources on the unanimous consent of the Indian and Eskimo people at Great Whale River to the transfer of property and assets at that point to the Province of Quebec, and agreed that a press release be made in concert with the Premier of Quebec.
>
> -- Cabinet Conclusions, 23 July 1965 (this document’s companion, page 15)

Read the July 23 conclusions: [download the PDF](https://coldwar.tech/media/pages/archive/documents/mcl-cabinet-conclusions-1965/9301835943-1783632073/cabinet-conclusions-mid-canada-line-1965-07-23.pdf). Taken together, the three meetings trace the whole arc: the decision to close, the property transfer, and the consent of the people who lived where the radar had stood.

**A note on rights and copies.** These are Government of Canada records; Crown copyright on 1965 documents has expired. The scans were obtained through Library and Archives Canada’s digitised Cabinet Conclusions (finding aid 2-11); each meeting’s LAC record is linked on the Resources of the [Mid-Canada Line](https://coldwar.tech/systems/mid-canada-line) page.

## Related

- [The Mid-Canada Line](https://coldwar.tech/systems/mid-canada-line) (Systems)

Tags: Mid-Canada Line, Cabinet Conclusions, Great Whale River, Kuujjuarapik, declassified, Canada, Cold War

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Canonical URL: https://coldwar.tech/archive/documents/mcl-cabinet-conclusions-1965
Last updated: 2026-07-15