MOOSE JAW — The third annual Classroom Contest hosted by the Tunnels of Moose Jaw recently concluded with senior students from William Derby School in Strasbourg, Sask., selected as this year’s winners.
These students got to experience a full tour of Bunker 24 — Moose Jaw’s newest tunnel tour — and had the opportunity to meet Malcolm Bucholtz, author of “Thatcher versus Douglas” recently.
Devin Senayed is one of the students from William Derby School who attended the tour.
“We’re the seniors of 2025 from William Derby in Strasbourg, and in one class our teacher said that there was a contest to go to the new Moose Jaw tunnel,” Senayed said. “So, we started looking into it and we learned about the book that was coming out and (learned that) the author would be speaking to us and it (sounded) very interesting.”
Bunker 24 tells the story of Canada’s history during the Cold War era as the country emerged from the Great Depression and the Second World War. Set in 1958 during a time when it was east versus west, communism versus capitalism, and the threat of an all-out nuclear war was at the forefront of public concern, the tour establishes visitors as fresh recruits entering their first day of training.
True to the theme, Bucholtz’ book was chosen because of its focus on growing allegations at the time that Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) party leader Tommy Douglas was promoting a communist agenda.
As a requirement for the contest, students from across the province were asked to make a video explaining how their class would benefit from the tour and book presentation.
“We started looking into the content that the tour would be going over and the content of the book, and (we) realized it connected beautifully with what we’ll be learning in history,” Senayed said. The video also explained how the material would provide an upper hand in their English A30 and History 30 classes.
Senayed said the tour “went very well” and found the intricate tunnel system to be quite interesting.
Although Senayed admitted he hasn’t yet read “Thatcher versus Douglas” in full, he said he’s now interested after hearing the presentation.
“It was cool to see because we actually watched a video and it explained how they thought that Douglas was a communist and the federal government was completely against him,” he said. “And then, with that in the back of my mind, listening to him speak about it, it was like two completely opposite sides of one person.”
Bucholz said the main message behind both his book and the Oct. 16 talk was to do your own research and think for yourself.
“When you go on the tour… you hear that our own bureaucracy had labelled (Douglas) as a communist,” Bucholz said. “Don’t just leave and accept that he was — he was not a communist.
“I guess the main message is: be careful in this day and age what you believe, and don’t just take someone’s opinion and accept it as the truth. Do your own research,” he advised. “That’s why I encourage these young folks to become… students of history, even if they don’t go and do a degree.
“It’s unfortunate that social media is so quick to assign labels (and) it’s unfortunate that we are so quick to just adopt opinion and a side. We really can do better as a society.”
Bucholz is a graduate of Queen’s University Faculty of Engineering and earned an MBA degree at Heriot Watt University in Scotland. He has authored several published books and resides in Mossbank, Sask. His books are published through Wood Dragon Books at WoodDragonBooks.com.
To learn more about Bucholz’ book, “Thatcher versus Douglas,” visit TheGreatDebate.ca.
The Bunker 24 tunnel entrance is located at 32 Manitoba Street West. To access the tunnel tour, visit the office at 18 Main Street North or call 306-693-5261.
To book a tunnel tour visit TunnelsOfMooseJaw.com.
