Heritage

Community Heritage Registry: Electoral Areas 'C' and 'D'

Background

A community heritage registry is an official list of historic places, which have been identified by the local government as having heritage value or heritage character.  For some sites, addition to a local government community heritage register is the first critical step toward the sought after national historic site designation.

As part of adding a historical site to the heritage registry each site must have a statement of significance (SOS).  This document is required for each heritage site.  There is a standardized format for a SOS; it provides a description of the site, identifies the heritage values and the character defining elements of the site.  The SOS is usually prepared by a heritage professional and is a required document for placing heritage sites on the BC Registry of Historic Places and the Canadian Register of Historic Places.  The Canadian Register of Historic Places has a searchable data base that permits visitors to their website to view a list of Canadian historic places.

Locally, a regional community heritage register has long been mooted as desirable by some interests, but has never achieved the necessary political traction and support in the not-for-profit heritage community.  The recent uncertain fate of two North Island artefacts, the Alco #113 locomotive and Hornsby Steam Crawler, has changed that.    The directors for Electoral Areas 'C' and 'D' took action in 2011 to protect, promote and help raise funds for these assets.  The result was a low requisition electoral area heritage service being established, facilitating a community heritage registry for these two areas.  The next steps, currently underway, are to relocate the artefacts to final “resting places” on public land and these locations, with statements of significance completed, will be placed on the registry, which will the be placed on this site. Privately held heritage properties as well as locations of interest on crown land, will be added to the registry in future.

IMPORTANT!  The Town of Port McNeill has recently made the decision to create its own municipal heritage register.  While that information will be provided by the town  as it is compiled, it will not be part of the RDMW register.  No RDMW municipalities are participants in this service or registry, nor are Electoral Areas A or B.

If there is a site in the two participating electoral areas that you believe should have an SOS developed for potential inclusion on the registry, please contact the RDMW to discuss the matter.