They had 6 fully built (RL-201 to 206).
It was built as a long-range interceptor for use in the artic as that was regarded as the most likely way of Soviet attack.
The Arrow was cancelled due to American pressure and the fact it tripled or quadrupled in cost per unit. It ended at about $12 million a plane. Part of the reason was that AVRO was designing not just a new airframe, not just a new engine, but also a weapons system to go along with it. Another reason it was cancelled is that sputnik had just been launched so everyone was thinking of missiles as the future. You also have to remember that we were told that if we didn't scrap the Arrows the States would put Bomarc's on the border, bringing Soviet bombers or any unexploded Bomarcs (and there unexploded nuclear weapons) down on our cities.
The engine had somewhere near 65000-75000 pounds of thrust (no afterburners). With afterburners it was incredible. No wonder everyone wanted it.
Not all the parts were destroyed. The Canada Aviation Museum has some Arrow parts and one of the original Iroquois engines. It has been claimed that the reason that the Arrows were destroyed is that Diefenbaker thought he would look like a fool if other countries bought the things after we had cancelled the project.
Overall, Diefenbaker was an idiot. The Bomarc's needed sandbags in the nose so that they wouldn't fall over and kill all those on the ground. We could have used them into the 70‘s at least. Instead we got the Voodooos that, wlile decent, were used. Idiot!