Canada's Missing Historic Preservation Program

Despite a large amount of historic amenities, Canada has no countrywide programs for preserving the nation's built heritage. Many say one is long overdue.

1 minute read

August 21, 2008, 10:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg


"There are about 7,200 such heritage sites across the country. They're finicky old dames requiring complex maintenance and upkeep, and while Britain and the United States have broad-based programs for preserving "built heritage" - a national trust and tax credits, respectively - Canada has none."

"A national heritage trust system, advocates say, is badly needed. Heritage buildings are "endangered" in Canada, says Natalie Bull, executive director of the Heritage Canada Foundation, because developers often prefer to knock them down and start new."

"It's easier, Ms. Bull says, to throw up a cookie-cutter development - such as a new condo - than to take time to work within an existing, antiquated heritage site with its own 'quirks,' or 'problems.'"

Wednesday, August 20, 2008 in The Globe and Mail

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