We always joke that the current generation could not live without their smartphones and their gaming consoles.
However, a short 25 years ago, the entire world was staring down an approaching fear of a different kind — living without electricity to operate the most basic necessities of 20th century life: lights, stoves, refrigerators and heaters. That fear extended to the financial industry being affected and keeping people from accessing their money to pay for essentials such as food and medicine.
What was the cause of all of this fear? One simple numeronym, Y2K. The coming of the new millennium.
In the early years of computing, the first devices were faced with limited storage capabilities due to the sheer cost of each byte of data. As a consequence of this, the vast majority of those early computer programs were written with a shortened, two-digit date code to express the year instead of using the full four digits.
For example, the year “1957” would be shortened to “57,” with the first two digits assumed by the program to be “19”. So, what would happen when the year 1999 gave way to four completely different digits in 2000? Would all of these systems think that the year was now, in fact, 1900? This design flaw became known as the Y2K Bug.
As that fateful year approached, governments around the world, leaders of business and industry, as well as ordinary citizens worried about what would occur. Would the world descend into chaos? Fears ranged from power outages to food shortages to banking system collapse, all the way to the most extreme belief that airplanes would fall out of the sky, prison doors would spontaneously open and nuclear missiles would automatically fire at their targets.
In order to battle against the fears and win the war on Y2K, armies of programmers redirected all of their programming efforts. They were tasked within all sectors of governments across the globe as well as every industry to examine every computer program and manually adjust all date entries from two digits to four digits.
Locally, all three post-secondary institutions — Cambrian College, College Boreal and Laurentian University — combined their efforts to battle the Y2K issue by creating a “Year 2000 Computer Readiness Project.” The initiative’s goal was to ensure that building and facility operations, timers, lab equipment and computer systems were able to the date change to the year 2000.
In November 1998, a national Angus Reid/CTV poll was conducted among 1,520 adults. Those polled were asked about their familiarity with the “Y2K issue” and an overwhelming majority of Canadians (93 per cent) were found to be aware of it. However, only one in four were “very familiar” with the issue and just over 50 per cent were “somewhat” familiar with it.
When asked which sectors they were most concerned with being fixed, most Canadians chose “hospitals and other health services” followed by the “banking and financial services” industries and “police and public safety”.
Here in Sudbury, a local pharmacy published a short piece in the newspaper advising their clients, and citizens in general, that the health services sector was safe from the Y2K bug. As an example, they wrote at the time that the systems in place had already proven effective during the previous year’s ice storm across Eastern Canada. Even so, they provided tips (just in case) that included keeping an accurate record of one’s medication and informing neighbours of any special medical needs. And, in a much more direct statement aimed at the survivalists in the community, they reminded everyone that they only required the amount of medication currently prescribed to them and should not be requesting more to hoard it.
In early 2000 (yes, we survived Y2K), CBC reported the federal government had spent about $2.5 billion for approximately 11,000 programmers to deal with the Y2K bug. They had even gone so far as setting up an emergency command centre that operated 24 hours a day into the early days of January 2000 on the off-chance that computer problems arose at businesses that were closed over the entirety of the holidays.
Here in Sudbury, Mayor Jim Gordon was interviewed by The Sudbury Star and said he felt confident the city had the Y2K problem under control. Beginning in 1997, the Regional Municipality of Sudbury put into place plans to test every system to ensure that the Y2K bug was eradicated.
In early 1999, plans were put into place to safeguard Pioneer Manor’s power source by spending $335,000 on a backup power source. A failure of the region’s sewage systems was also an anticipated possibility and prompted local politicians to spend more than $2 million to safeguard against its failure.
Even the discovery of potential Y2K-related issues within the Sudbury Regional Police communications system, though angering the chief at the time, were quickly stamped out at a taxpayer cost of around $328,000.
In the end, after nearly three years of work, at a total cost of $3.9 million dollars, a sense of “mission accomplished” permeated Tom Davies Square and it was now a case of “wait and see” what would happen come Jan. 1.
The Y2K bug caused such fear in the minds of so many that it created an entire industry for survivalists (or “preppers” as some were known). The bottled water industry was an early winner in the hoarding game with sales increasing exponentially as people stockpiled supplies with the expectation that the entire electrical grid could go down.
In an effort to streamline the needed items for the survivalists or (as hindsight showed us) to more easily fleece extra money from those most obsessed with the fears of total collapse, entire Y2K “survival kits” were offered up in magazine ads and infomercials.
Here at home, we were not immune from the survivalist hysteria of the time. Two days before New Years, many stores across the region were reporting brisk sales on many of the survivalists’ staples: generators, lamps, heaters, food and fuel. Local newspapers were even printing lists of essential items for their readers to cut out for their own preparations. These lists included expected items such as: food, water and documents, but also, items straight out of a “prepper’s” handbook: propane stoves, can openers, and waterproof matches.
As the new millennium approached, books with such fantastical titles as “Y2K: It’s Already Too Late” and “Time Bomb 2000: What the Year 2000 Computer Crisis Means to You!”, as well as the more benign (though no less interesting) titles, “Y2K For Women” and “The Y2K Survival Guide and Cookbook” sat alongside each other, and even became bestsellers before being relegated to the bargain books bin when the calendar hit Jan. 1, 2000.
Many documentaries were produced leading up to Y2K to feed the insatiable desire of some members of the public for both doomsday scenarios and survival tips. Leonard Nimoy (yes, Mr. Spock himself) hosted an instructional VHS named “Y2K Family Survival Guide” to help families survive the expected “technological apocalypse.” This one-hour video can even be viewed on YouTube for all of your millennium nostalgia needs.
As the clocks inched towards midnight in each time zone, one after another, people around the world, sat waiting, some in fear, some in anticipation, but almost everyone unsure of what would happen.
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Jean Chretien and many of his close advisors huddled together at 24 Sussex Drive in preparation for any possibility that might occur. This was a scene that was mirrored by most governments around the world.
Ten thousand Canadian soldiers, under Operation ABACUS (the name being chosen in recognition of the ancient arithmetic machine which everyone hoped they would not need to use following Y2K-caused system crashes), were on alert and ready to help respond to any emergencies. However, with no clear threat, such as a flood or snowstorm, and the possibility that the computer systems used by the Canadian Armed Forces could also be impacted, the soldiers had to be prepared to respond to anything.
In the end, Sudbury welcomed Y2K just like every other community across the world, saying a jubilant goodbye to 1999 with hope towards the new millennium. All fireworks and no “fire and brimstone.” Life continued on as normal as the Y2K fearmongers and the survivalists were proven wrong.
After over two decades, what do you remember feeling in the lead up to the year 2000? Were you caught up in Y2K fever or Y2K fear? Or, maybe you or someone you know was one of the many people involved with fixing the problem.
Share your memories of Y2K with Memory Lane writer Jason Marcon by emailing him at [email protected] or by emailing the editor at [email protected]. We will share your memories in Part 2 on Nov. 25.
Jason Marcon is a writer and history enthusiast in Greater Sudbury. He runs the Coniston Historical Group and the Sudbury Then and Now Facebook page. Memory Lane is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
