Bell-Northern Research (BNR) Edmonton Lab, ~1981-1986

 

This is an attempt to capture a few aspects of the Bell-Northern Reseach facility located during the mid-1980s in Edmonton, Alberta and to recall the names of the people involved.

Please refer to the linked PDF file. Roster of BNR Edmonton Employees.  This list is a best collective effort to regenerate a complete list of former BNR Edmonton employees.  So far, about 100 names have been recalled out of a total estimated final lab population of perhaps 120 or so.

1986 Edmonton Group Photo

Below is a BNR Edmonton group photo taken shortly after the closing of the lab had been announced.  (Per the key, a best effort has been made to identify those pictured.  This photo probably involves less than half of the complete lab population at that time. ) 

Background:

It had been decided to blow the annual Lab budget for 'social activities' in one final blast, held at an Edmonton hotel.  The cake pictured below was commissioned for the event.

Apparently the event was well lubricated.  Employees labeled Nos. 43 & 44 crashed a reception being held in the adjacent ballroom.  Our two rowdies were promptly ejected by the killjoys who were celebrating there.

(Photo courtesy of Cliff Townsend)

(Photo courtesy of Cliff Townsend.)

Lab Location

The BNR Edmonton lab building was located at 150 Karl Clark Road.  It was constructed in 1981 and in use by BNR during the period 1982-1986.  At that time, the building comprised a single floor and there were no other buildings in the immediate vicinity.

The building has been extensively modified since 1986 and was subsequently occupied by LSI Logic Corp., then LogiCan Technologies Inc.  

Recent aerial view of the facility at 150 Karl Clark Road.

Reunion — Held at The Marshes, August 26, 2026

This year, 2026, marks the 40th anniversary of the lab's closing, which provoked a few Ottawa-resident former lab employees to mark the occasion with a small reunion.

Back row (L - R)

• Peter Merriman
• Malcolm Betts
• John Mills
• Lauren Hodgson
• Kim Roberts
• Yves Tremblay
• Rich Cowper
• Dave Nicholson
• Harry Peng

Front row (L - R)

• Jim McEachern
• Cliff Townsend
• Greg Mumford
• Tony Marsh
• Rick Murphy
• Nazib Moledina