Saving Our Built Heritage

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(reprinted courtesy of Canadian Heritage News, July 2002)

Most Canadians would be shocked to know that over the past 30 years more than 20% of the historic buildings in our cities and towns have been lost to the wrecker's ball! Many of those buildings have played a significant role in our national development. The Historic Places Initiative of Canadian Heritage is going to help reverse that trend by helping communities preserve and protect their built heritage. The first steps are now underway with the development of a register of up to 20,000 historic places. Pilot projects are testing conservation standards and guidelines in cooperation with experts at the municipal and provincial levels. There will be a certification process to eventually make financial incentives available to private sector developers for the redevelopment of historic places. The Department of Canadian Heritage and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities are working closely together on the development and implementation of this very important initiative. Other measures to ensure heritage protection for Canada's historic places are also anticipated.

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