September 2008
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Cover photographs:
Front Cover:
1– Anderson Barn, Brandon (north), MB © Manitoba Historic Resources Branch;
2– Site du patrimoine Au-Bassin, Saguenay, Quebec, Constitution. © Ministère de
la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine, Jean-François
Rodrigue, 2004;
3– Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre Elders at the Roy Rivers Valley Medicine
Wheel, West Central SK, © Government of Saskatchewan, Thomas;
4– Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception, Cooks Creek, MB ©
Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Sport.
Report on the HPI prepared by Parks Canada
The Historic Places Initiative (HPI)
Photo: Xa:ytem, Mission, BC
© BC Heritage Branch
Xa:ytem Longhouse Interpretive Centre is based near Mission, at the site of Xa:ytem,
a massive rock that marks the site of a village that existed 9,000 years ago. The
great rock has profound spiritual significance to people of the Sto:lo Nation, who
now present interpretive programs here.
Heritage conservation is sometimes regarded as a movement to preserve only the best
and greatest – ‘the homes of the rich and famous’. This is a misconception. The
heritage movement is concerned with preserving the history of all walks of life,
all human activities, all peoples… Heritage is, simply, what we agree is worth keeping.
Heritage BC
The federal government launched this program only six years ago, and since then
every province and territory has come aboard. What they’re all doing – with the
help of local historical societies and municipal governments – is building an online
registry of historic places. The most wonderful feature… is that it lists not just
famous national historic sites like Signal Hill…, but canals, warehouses, lighthouses,
grain elevators, sod huts, cobblestone streets, graveyards, a stone-walled cattle
pound, a hospital for sailors, a factory that made oilskins for the fishing industry
…Canada’s Historic Places Initiative does what it promises to do. It captures the
soul and spirit of our country.
Harry Bruce, Saltscapes,
July-Aug. 2006
In 2001–2003 Canada's federal, provincial and territorial governments embarked
on an innovative collaboration to address and celebrate the conservation of our
historic places. Since that time, they have established a strong new foundation
for the recognition and appreciation of our built heritage. This document is intended
to highlight some of the achievements of the Historic Places Initiative (HPI).
The HPI collaboration has been transformational. All fourteen provincial, territorial
and federal jurisdictions responsible for heritage in Canada have worked together
to share best practices, ideas and expertise in order to stimulate new activity
in the heritage sector. Their focus is timely because Canada has lost too many of
its historic places. A 1999 study found that 20% of our historic buildings had been
demolished since 1970. Such loss is substantial. Historic places provide economic,
environmental and social benefits. Studies have shown that most Canadians support
their retention. In fact, a Millward-Brown-Goldfarb poll tracked Canadian attitudes
towards heritage over the 1993–2003 period and found consistently strong approval
for heritage protection. This result is endorsed by 1995 Parks Canada research which
showed that 83% of Canadians were willing to increase government support for heritage
while 99% of Canadians believed in the conservation of Canada's significant historic
places. The HPI collaboration has responded to this public demand for the effective
conservation of Canada's valued historic places.
Left to Right:
Photo: Province House, PEI
© Tourism Prince Edward Island / John Sylvester
Photo: Hurontario Street, Collingwood Heritage Conservation District, Collingwood, ON
© Ministry of Culture
The Collingwood Heritage Conservation
District is an important representation of
the history and development of the town
of Collingwood from its founding in 1853
as a railway and shipping terminus on
Georgian Bay, to a period of economic
prosperity in the early 20th century.
Use of the Historic Places
website has grown consistently.
Between the beginning
of 2005/06 and the end of
2007/08, visits increased at a rate
of 8% monthly with an average
of 7,700 users per month.
A pan-Canadian vision for the conservation of historic places has been successfully
achieved for the first time. This is well illustrated by the HPI website www.historicplaces.ca.
The site contains descriptions of the heritage programs of all jurisdictions as
well as a register of Canada's significant historic places. It provides guidelines
for the conservation of these sites, and references to related conservation aids
and items of heritage interest. For the first time, there is a single, publicly
accessible access point for information on all of Canada's historic places.
The HPI collaboration is based upon three key pillars. These are:
- core tools to effectively engage Canadians in the conservation of historic places;
- collaboration to build capacity and a credible and coherent heritage management
system in Canada; and
- incentives to mobilize Canadian support of heritage conservation.
Projects successfully addressing all of these pillars have been undertaken under
the auspices of HPI, many with the assistance of enthusiastic partners from governments,
NGOs and the private sector.
CORE TOOLS
Three core tools have been developed by the HPI collaboration – the Canadian
Register of Historic Places, Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic
Places in Canada, and the HPI certification process. Their creation represents
a successful melding of federal, provincial and territorial approaches to heritage
conservation. This was a substantial achievement and, as is often the case, the
result achieved is much greater than the sum of its parts.
Right to left:
Photo: Igoolik Archaeological Site, Igoolik Island, NU
© Parks Canada
Photo: McDougall Memorial United Church, Morley, AB
© Laughing Dog Photography / Dustin Delfs
The HPI initiative
has encouraged local
communities to become
much more active in heritage
conservation. The high level
of municipal engagement
is reflected in the Register
listings. In 2007–08, the vast
majority of the submissions
resulted from recent
recognitions of historic
places, and some 474 out
of a total of 563 originated
with municipalities.
The Canadian Register of Historic Places
The Canadian Register of Historic Places (CRHP) is a comprehensive listing of the
historic places that we, as Canadians, consider important to our past. It includes
sites formally recognized under provincial and territorial heritage policy and legislation
as well as those places recognized as nationally significant by the federal government.
All of these historic places have been selected with public input through appropriate
review processes that acknowledge their significance and make their protection a
matter of public concern. Since many heritage acts incorporate provisions for independent
municipal designation, Canadian municipalities have also been drawn into the HPI
collaboration.
But the CRHP does more than simply list important places. A pan-Canadian standard
for documentation supporting register listings was developed. This includes a Statement
of Significance that explains why each historic place has special heritage
value to the community that nominated it, and describes what elements or qualities
of the historic place are to be safeguarded and supported in order to retain that
value. Perusal of these statements is an education in Canadian history, development
and diversity. The introduction of this values-based approach was one of the HPI's
most critical early accomplishments.
Photo: Repointing, Carberry, MB
© Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba
Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Sport
Masonry conservation workshop hosted
by Carberry Municipal Heritage Advisory
Committee, focusing on one of the 40
sites protected in the Historic Downtown
Carberry Heritage District.
In 2007, HPI technical support
led to the official recognition
of Manitoba’s first municipal
heritage district. Through a
series of public and focus group
meetings, a community vision
was created and the municipal
government proposed matching
grants to district property owners
who completed conservation
work on their buildings.
A workshop offered
by Ontario’s HPI staff
in Blind River stimulated
the first ever designations from
this small northern community.
These historic places have been
nominated to the Canadian
Register of Historic Places.
Utilizing the values-based
management approach,
Québec has strategically
incorporated the Statement
of Significance into its
provincial funding
program, the Fonds du
patrimoine culturel québecois,
and has noticed a marked
increase in “attributions de
statut” coming principally
from municipalities.
This had the corollary benefit of encouraging the various heritage authorities to
integrate these concepts into their existing documentation and to reach a common
level of documentation in order to meet the CRHP listing requirements. In Ontario
the provincial government established the Ontario Heritage Portal. This allows stakeholder
municipalities to submit the documentation for designated properties on-line and
to collaborate with provincial HPI staff who forward the completed nomination directly
to the CRHP.
The federal government provided funding to assist provinces and territories to meet
these standards and populate the CRHP. With these resources, the HPI partners sponsored
workshops to establish an understanding of the new documentation requirements among
stakeholder groups and enabled individual jurisdictions to allocate support according
to their needs. British Columbia, Alberta, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince
Edward Island, have used HPI funding to assist their municipal governments to prepare
the necessary documentation. Other jurisdictions, like Manitoba, have used HPI funding
to develop capacity-building guides.
Photo: Chinese Freemasons Building, Vancouver, BC
© Parks Canada / Doug Williams
Combined with the City’s
encouragement of revitalization,
the Chinese Freemasons
Building CHPIF project
is a watershed initiative
towards the revitalisation of
Chinatown and the Chinatown/
Gastown connection.
The Standards and Guidelines
are being used by a range
of municipalities, including
ten of the largest urban
areas in Canada representing
a combined population of
over 11 million people.
Provincial and territorial registers were also enhanced to be able to easily move
data on nominated sites directly to the CRHP. This resulted in the formation of
some new provincial and territorial registers of historic places, and the upgrading
of registers in most other jurisdictions. Prior to the creation of the CRHP in 2004,
a baseline study identified 17,751 historic places that had already been formally
recognized under federal, provincial or territorial heritage policy and legislation.
By June of 2008, the CRHP included more than 7300 historic places, just over 41%
of the historic places identified prior to the creation of the register. Five jurisdictions
have reached their 2004 baseline targets and are now listing only newly designated
places. Once the backlog of historic places are listed, information on all of Canada's
officially recognized historic places will be publicly accessible in a consistent
format.
While the nature of what was required varied from jurisdiction to jurisdiction,
all governments had to review, update and revise documentation on historic places
previously identified under their legislation. This has defined the nature and extent
of Canada's historic places, clarifying what was previously a sometimes confusing
situation for property owners and developers, as well as making the historic places
better known to the general public.
The Standards and Guidelines
The Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada
were developed by a pan-Canadian group of conservation experts and published in
2003. They provide conservation guidance on how to properly carry out interventions
to historic places. The document supports the concept that most historic places
need to evolve over time rather than being frozen at a point in time. Its provisions
were reviewed, amended, and eventually approved by territorial, provincial and federal
jurisdictions.
Photo: CenterBeam Place (West), Saint John, NB
© Commercial Properties Limited, Saint John / Rod Stears Photo
CenterBeam Place, Saint John, NB:
Absolutely the (CHPIF) financial
assistance made a difference in
what we were able to do for
CenterBeam Place. We found the
accompanying technical guidelines
and standards (Standards and
Guidelines for the Conservation
of Historic Places in Canada) were
really useful. Following them
actually accelerated our progress
on the project. We had a much
better project due to the assistance
provided by Parks Canada,
Province of New Brunswick Historic
Places and Saint John’s Heritage
Preservation Review Board.
John K. F. Irving,
Commercial Properties Ltd.,
Saint John.
The City of Regina has developed
conservation guidelines based
upon the Standards and
Guidelines and is requesting
that Statements of Significance
accompany nominations for
heritage property designation.
Canadian municipalities also appreciate the sensible approach to heritage conservation
outlined in the Standards and Guidelines. In particular, they have found
that its treatment of historic places as evolving resources makes rehabilitation
and re-use more feasible and economical. They note that the Standards and Guidelines
provide clear parameters for dealing with building owners, city planners and developers.
Many Canadian municipalities are applying the Standards and Guidelines
as a basis for managing their municipal heritage places. Some of them have passed
formal resolutions adopting the Standards and Guidelines as their official
heritage conservation standard and in the context of funding programs.
Plans to update the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places
in Canada by 2010 will reinforce commitment to broadening the content of
the document, including more in-depth guidance on recent heritage, cultural landscapes,
engineering works, and archaeological sites. Regularly updating this manual every
ten years thereafter will ensure that it continues to provide the best possible
conservation advice for Canada`s historic places.
Certification
A certification process has been designed to protect the heritage values of a historic
place when any alterations are planned. This is a consultation and review process
that occurs on a case-by-case basis. It provides a forum for integrating principles
in the Standards and Guidelines with the Statements of Significance and
a wide variety of other project requirements. A pilot certification process was
developed through the HPI collaboration and tested during implementation of the
federal pilot programme, the Commercial Heritage Properties Incentive Fund (CHPIF).
This program provided funding for the adaptive reuse of commercial heritage properties
by the private sector. Over the life of the program, the certification process was
successfully used to integrate a high standard of heritage conservation practice
in the rehabilitation of over 35 properties in jurisdictions across Canada. The
enthusiastic participants and the effectiveness of this pilot program indicate that
certification has the capacity to be more broadly applied as a process to implement
change while respecting the heritage value of historic places.
Photo: Barbour Premises, Newton, NL
© Heritage Foundation of NL
The British Columbia Heritage
Branch has been working to
modernize the building code so
that it can facilitate rehabilitation.
Gordon Macdonald, Managing
Director of Macdonald & Lawrence
Timber Framing Ltd., said:
I’m very pleased to see the
Heritage Branch taking this
proactive step to arrest the loss
of historic building fabric. Code
amendments are an appropriate
and effective way to enlighten
building officials and planners.
Rehabilitation of the Lougheed
Building, Calgary, Alberta:
We went in from day one saying,
“yes, we need a certain economic
return.” But we have to look at the
whole return and that includes the
social and cultural factors …. Once
you get into it, you start learning
about the city and the history
… you begin to think, I’d rather
do this than build strip malls.
Neil Richardson,
Heritage Property Corp.
Federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions have collaborated through HPI
to create these core tools. While they have not yet reached their full potential,
they have created a coherent pan-Canadian system for the conservation of historic
places. Municipalities have embraced this system as well, many because they recognize
the expertise marshalled in the creation of the tools and appreciate its broad acceptance
and consistent application; others because they have also found it offers a common
denominator for various environmental assessment processes; and still others because
they have witnessed its successful implementation through the CHPIF program.
ENGAGING CANADIANS
To be truly effective, the HPI collaboration must continue to build on these foundations.
The constructive dialogue achieved by the HPI needs to continue expanding collaborative
discussions to incorporate such new stakeholders as Aboriginal communities. The
range of common issues related to the nature and conservation of historic places
is far from exhausted.
Photo: Azalea Joe and Julia
© Government of Yukon, Department of Tourism and Culture
Azalea Joe interviewed
her grandmother, Julia, as part
of oral history research of
Canyon City Historic Site, near
Whitehorse. HPI has supported a
number of projects in the Yukon
that have involved the recording
of traditional knowledge about
historic places and the transference
of this knowledge between
generations. First Nations are
keenly aware of the need to
engage youth and elders before it
is too late so that traditional ways
and values are not lost. Traditional
knowledge provides depth to
our understanding of historic
places and their heritage values.
During Heritage week 2007, HPI
staff created stories about historic
places in Nunavut’s three regions
to engage youth through its 30
schools. Plans for a youth-elder
interview program are underway.
In Prince Edward Island, 2,000
sets of trading cards featuring
the island’s historic places were
distributed with the aim of getting
kids interested in their history.
The Montreal Gazette reported:
History has never been so exciting,
what with Prince Edward Island
releasing heritage trading cards…
Montreal Gazette, 14 Feb. 2008
Aboriginal Communities
Several provinces and territories with substantial Aboriginal populations have employed
HPI funding to engage their First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities in
the HPI process. The Gwich'in Tribal Council has integrated the Canadian Register
of Historic Places and historic site designation into its formal management framework.
Two Dene governments in the Northwest Territories are also using HPI tools to undertake
this integration, as are several Aboriginal community governments in the Yukon.
Between 2004 and 2007, Saskatchewan undertook a series of pilot projects to promote
youth-elder collaboration in identifying Aboriginal historic places as well as a
survey to explore conservation needs amongst First Nations communities in the province.
Other jurisdictions such as Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland
and Labrador have begun exploratory projects with Aboriginal communities as well.
These initiatives are critical because they represent the first steps in understanding
the tools needed to engage Aboriginal peoples in the identification and documentation
of historic places of importance to them, thereby ensuring that the diversity of
Canada's history is reflected in formally recognized historic places.
Municipalities and Community Groups
Beyond these successes, the excitement associated with HPI activities has generated
unprecedented support and enthusiasm for Canadian history and heritage. The initial
collaboration was endorsed by the Big City Mayors' Caucus and the Federation of
Canadian Municipalities for its potential to support partnership and communities.
Since then, HPI resources have enabled the delivery of workshops to many groups
not directly associated with implementation of the pan-Canadian program including
architects' associations, volunteer members of many Canadian museums, historical
societies and local heritage advisory boards.
Photo: Lunenburg, Nova Scotia (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
© Nova Scotia Museum
In 2007-08, the Nova Scotia
Community College (NSCC)
Lunenburg campus introduced a
two-year conservation carpentry
program, integrating the Standards
and Guidelines into the curriculum.
The development of other heritage-oriented
programs is expected
to incorporate this HPI tool as
essential curriculum (eg. Masonry,
Land Resource Management). This
is an unparalleled opportunity
to integrate the Standards and
Guidelines into key trades training
for the functional caretakers
of built and environmental
heritage in the province.
Since 2004, over 630 children from
64 schools across Saskatchewan
have participated in the annual
HPI-sponsored Heritage
Poster contest.
As participant Michael Basin said in
a thank-you letter, the contest has
given me a better understanding of
Saskatchewan heritage and I’m sure
it will make other young people
understand it better and realize
how valuable these buildings are.
Youth
HPI also has enabled provincial and territorial heritage agencies to form partnerships
to actively engage Canadians in heritage conservation. One focus of this activity
has been raising awareness among young Canadians. Many provincial departments of
education have stepped forward as eager partners. Some have agreed to include historic
places in their curricula and to conduct field trips to nearby heritage sites. New
Brunswick is developing on-line teaching tools focussing on listed historic places.
Others have offered to encourage research projects on historic properties, to sponsor
heritage poster contests or heritage fairs. Private associations like the Rivers
West – Red River Corridor Association and the Historica Foundation have proved
generous additional allies in organizing and financing these programs.
Post-secondary education
Post-secondary, professional and trades groups have also used HPI resources to foster
the education of a new generation of skilled heritage workers. These initiatives
were undertaken after a 2005 study sponsored by the Cultural Human Resources Council
and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada identified a need to support heritage
conservation activities. Other partners have ranged from the Saskatchewan Architectural
Heritage Society and the Saskatchewan Heritage Foundation, who collaborated to release
a new directory of heritage conservation-related services, to Alberta's Athabasca
University, which developed an internship program in historical resources. Several
training programs for trades professionals traditionally engaged in the heritage
field have integrated the Standards and Guidelines into their existing
curricula. Ontario universities, including Carleton University, Brock University
and the University of Waterloo, have implemented programs engaging their students
with local communities in the nomination of historic places to the Canadian Register.
Left to right:
Photo: Fort Walsh, SK
© Parks Canada
Photo: Nagwichoonjik NHS. Traditional food preparation at Tree River camp, Mackenzie River, NWT
© I.Kritsch / Gwich’in Social & Cultural
Institute
To protect our culture the land
must also be protected because
the places on the land where
the stories are told give the
stories their meaning. Without
these places... the value of
the stories would be lost.
Leroy André,
Délîne Lands Corporation, 2004, NWT.
ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
Through the co-operative efforts of all jurisdictions, the HPI has energized heritage
conservation in Canada. It has promoted dialogue between generations and among specific
interest groups, as well as creating essential links between municipal, territorial,
provincial and federal stakeholders. This collaboration establishes a pattern of
communication that bodes well for the broad and inclusive resolution of future heritage
challenges. To date, its accomplishments have been the catalyst for stimulating
new endeavours in heritage conservation.
Successful collaboration of federal, provincial and territorial governments under
the HPI has provided a common understanding and approach to heritage activity in
Canada. Today a cohesive system links all responsible jurisdictions. Canada has
a consistent set of conservation guidelines and a single list of formally recognized
historic places. The what and how of heritage conservation are now clear. Canada's
historic places are equipped with a set of tools that will encourage their conservation
while allowing them to play continuing and vital roles in mainstream Canadian life.
They can continue to contribute to economic growth and environmental sustainability
as well as strengthening the sense of identity of the many diverse populations that
make up our country. Canadians have expressed a strong desire to retain the stories
of their past and the places associated with them. Thanks to the Historic Places
Initiative, that desire is much closer to becoming a reality.
