This will be our ever-evolving mindset, striving always to be thoughtful and open to both Heritage as accepted wisdom and Heritage as agent for change:— Heritage places tell our stories and speak to the rich history and heritage of this place we now call Canada. Saving and renewing these places combats climate change, promotes equity and inclusion, truth and reconciliation and fuels our economy. This includes places of significance to Indigenous peoples, as well as to Black Canadians and Canadians from many other cultural and ethnic backgrounds, that have been destroyed or long overlooked by heritage advocates themselves.

— Heritage places, or historic places, can mean any place valued by people. Heritage places include, but are not limited to:

→ Landscapes, sites, areas of land, archaeological sites, sacred sites, sites of natural beauty.
→ Works of architecture, engineering works, places of faith, bridges.
→ Everyday places where people live, work and play: homes, town squares, agricultural structures.
→ “Special” places set aside as rare or important examples or touchstones with history.

— The heritage conservation movement includes people who care about places — sites, landscapes and buildings that are culturally meaningful and connected to shared memory, but also all older buildings that represent past investments of skill, materials, carbon and embodied energy, and merit wise use.

→ Everyday places where people live,
work and play: homes, town squares,
agricultural structures.
→ “Special” places set aside as rare
or important examples or touchstones
with history.
— The heritage conservation
movement includes people who care
about places — sites, landscapes and
buildings that are culturally meaningful
and connected to shared memory, but
also all older buildings that represent past
investments of skill, materials, carbon and
embodied energy, and merit wise use.

— Heritage conservation is about
meeting the needs of communities today
— not just preserving something that
existed in the past for its own sake. It
recognizes the right of every community
to maintain, control, protect and develop
places that are gateways to stories and
ideas, diversity and inclusion, identity,
and connection.