RCAF Station Winisk
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Royal Canadian Air Force Station Winisk (RCAF Station Winisk) was a military installation located in Winisk, Ontario.
RCAF Winisk was one of eight Sector Control Stations on the Mid-Canada Line system of radar stations. Each SCS received signals from a series of unmanned detection sites located approximately 50 km apart. In Winisk, radio wave signals were transmitted along the chain of stations to the SCS, then to RCAF Station Ramore via tropospheric scatter system and finally to RCAF Station North Bay by land line. As there is no road or rail access to Winisk, an airstrip was also built to serve the base.
Opened in 1958, RCAF Station Winisk was operational for just seven years. The eastern portion of the Mid-Canada Line was shut down in 1965 and the Winisk base was closed.
Environmental issues remain at the abandoned base. Local First Nations and Timmins—James Bay Member of Parliament Charlie Angus have urged the federal government to clean up the site, which they say is contaminated with asbestos, PCBs and other toxins. In 2006, Angus stated that there are over 50,000 barrels of toxic material and that PCB levels in the soil are 16,000 times acceptable levels.
[edit] Sources
Military needs to clean up toxic bases in northern Ontario, says MP, Canadian Press, Aug 23, 2006.
Ozorak, Paul. Abandoned Military Installations of Canada: Volume I: Ontario. 1991. ISBN 0-969-51271-6.
