Is there unexploded ordnance near my BC property?

What the answer means

The Department of National Defence lists former military sites across Canada where unexploded explosive ordnance (UXO) may still lie: old rifle and artillery ranges, bombing ranges, coastal batteries, camps and depots. A report names the sites placed in the lot's place, with DND's status for each.

What the list holds

From 2006 the Department of National Defence (DND) went through historical records for former military sites that it no longer owns but where unexploded explosive ordnance (UXO) may still lie: old ranges, batteries, camps, depots and dumping areas. Each is assessed for risk; medium and high risk sites get signs, surveys or clearance, and sites with no or low risk may be closed administratively. DND says a closed site can be reopened if new information comes to light, and that no technology can guarantee every piece has been found.

No map

DND's list gives each site's name, province and status only: no map, outline or coordinates. So a report can't say whether a site reaches a lot; we place each site in a place by the name DND gives it (our reading), and a site named for a town may lie outside its limits.

DND's statuses

DND's list gives one of four statuses without defining them; from its program page we read them as: In Assessment, DND is still assessing the site; Assessment Complete, DND has finished assessing the site; Risk Mitigation Ongoing, DND is working to reduce the risk (signs, surveys or clearance); Closed, closed by DND as no or low risk, which doesn't mean no UXO.

If you find something

If you see something that could be UXO, don't touch it: remember where it is, leave the area and call 911 or the local police. DND asks anyone planning to build, demolish, work the ground or extract resources in a former military area to contact it first; some work needs UXO-qualified people on site or on call.

Before you dig or build

Before digging or building near a site on the list, ask DND's UXO and Legacy Sites Program (uxocanada@forces.gc.ca) what it knows of the site's bounds and what was found there.

Our summary of DND's UXO pages, read 2026-10-13; DND's list is a list of sites, not a survey of any lot. Federal contaminated sites on DND land are a separate list, in the report's same section.

Source: Unexploded Explosive Ordnance (UXO) Sites in Canada, Department of National Defence (updated 2026-06-26) (Open Government Licence – Canada); Locations of UXO, National Defence (read 2026-10-13); How we protect Canadians from UXO, National Defence (read 2026-10-13); Construction, agriculture and natural resources, National Defence (read 2026-10-13).

By place

DND lists 162 UXO legacy sites in BC; 160 of them are placed here in 56 places by their names, 115 not closed. Listed by place and name, never ranked.

From DND's list, updated 2026-06-26 and read 2026-10-13. Each site is placed by us: by a feature its name gives (a bay, point or island on BC Geographical Names) near the place the name starts with, else by that place; one in the water by the nearest place. Not placed: HMCS THIEPVAL (closed; a shipwreck; DND's name doesn't say where it lies); USAT BGEN M.G. Zalinski (assessment complete; a shipwreck; DND's name doesn't say where it lies).