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such as Nobel laureate Sir Frederick Banting and associates made sig-
nificant contributions to the Allied offensive and defensive BW capa-
bilities, as well as serving as a linchpin between UK and US scientists.
Significantly, Canada did not abandon its involvement with CBW after
1945, unlike the case of its nuclear bomb research. If it had, Suffield
would have disappeared as a major military facility, and Canada would
not have been part of the Tripartite CBW system.
Not surprisingly, it was the US program that most influenced Canadian
R&D priorities. Indeed, DRB scientists were convinced that they could
not “carry on an effective program in biological defense if we were cut off
from the constant flow of US information, particularly information on
weapon effects.” This dependency was also revealed by the DND's at-
tempts in 1968-69 to acquire a CBW retaliatory capability—through ac-
cess to American stockpiles. Even more telling was the enormous impact
of President Nixon's November 1969 declaration on all aspects of Can-
ada's BW operation.
70
But was the Canadian BW program merely an appendage of its more
powerful allies' programs? In terms of the British connection, there is no
evidence, as some writers have claimed, that Canada's postwar CBW pri-
orities were determined by Whitehall. Similarly, the DRB's relations with
the key US military and scientific BW agencies, notably Camp Detrick
and the Dugway/Deseret test centers, operated on the basis of mutual re-
spect and reciprocal exchange, a relationship that continues today. In
terms of offense-related research, the Canadians made a number of im-
portant contributions, such as the insect vector program at Kingston and
the antianimal research at Grosse Isle. But it was the many Suffield proj-
ects, often coordinated with the Dugway and Deseret testing centers, that
were most highly regarded by Canada's Tripartite allies. These included
munitions tests with lethal and nonlethal agents, the LAC trials, studies
on the decay of aerosolized bacteria and viruses, and early warning de-
tection systems. Equally valuable were defensive measures related to bat-
tlefield CBW sensors, decontamination techniques, protective equip-
ment; along with new vaccines and antibiotics, particularly since these
undertakings continued after the BWC. In fact cooperative defensive
work has been a central feature of DRES research priorities during the
past 35 years under the auspices of NATO, the Tripartite Technical Coop-
eration Program (TTCP), and the more exclusive 1980 US/UK/Canada
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