Heritage has never stood still.
It has lived and continues to live, as special places and spaces — the physical, spiritual and sacred — that carry meaning. Heritage lives as we live, rooted and unrooted by a past, relating to us in the present, eager to tell us a story about our future.
And so we turn to heritage not only to preserve and protect, but to spark what makes us fundamentally human — that we hunger for meaning, truth, love and beauty, to feel a sense of belonging, to care about ourselves, each other, this planet, to grow together.
We turn to heritage because of its power to unsettle fixed notions, disarm rigid preconceptions, remove legacies of exclusion, injustice, elitism and misrepresentation.
We turn to heritage to spur imagination and possibility, to find hope, to uplift each other because when we fail to do so, we are not really living.
We turn to heritage to remind us that living with values, is fundamentally, our shared value.
We turn to heritage to celebrate what it means to live.
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Live aware.
Acknowledge, honour and understand.
We will acknowledge, honour and understand the diversity of the heritage sector and the diversity of meaning, stories, histories of the people and communities who we want to engage with, including the stories that have been previously undervalued or misrepresented, that belonging means different things to different people, that truth and understanding takes work, because interpretation is not permanent, and understandings evolve over time.
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Live care.
Engage with what matters.
We will engage heritage because of its ability to respond to and care about real human needs, what matters to people today — climate action, reconciliation, social justice, affordable housing and more.
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Live purpose.
Take charge, take action, be seen.
We will see heritage conservation not as destruction or isolation but as a powerful act of protection, preservation and rehabilitation, a deliberate stance against ignorance, indifference, and erasure.
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The
Heritage is Living
Podcast
Welcome to the ‘Heritage is Living’ Podcast – A place to explore and challenge what heritage is and how it fits into our world today. Through this podcast, we will speak with experts in the heritage field and beyond, to understand how heritage can help us to live aware, with care, and with purpose.
This podcast is recorded in Ottawa – the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people. The Trust recognizes that all of us live and work on the lands and territories of many Indigenous peoples across what is now known as Canada.
We invite you to join us as we discuss how heritage conservation is more than you think.
01 – Heritage and Climate Action with Lloyd Alter (Available in English)
02 – Heritage and Economy with Natalie Voland (Available in French)
03 – Heritage and Reconciliation with Dr. Kisha Supernant (Available in English)
04 – Heritage and Inclusion with Parker Mah (Available in French)
Introducing the Heritage is Living Podcast
Heritage is Living Across Canada
advancing reconciliation
Lougheed House, Calgary, AB
Heritage is living at Lougheed House through the Lougheed House Re-Imagined program. The initiative ties together a diversity of voices that tell a much deeper, complex story of place, ...
Advancing equity and inclusion
Mapping the invisible
Too often, historic spaces of significance, whether historic homes, neighbourhoods, parks, etc. stand without acknowledgment of their layered and diverse histories. Many do not stand at all, having long been demolished. From targeted gentrification to demolition by neglect and lack of heritage protection to lack of public visibility, the place-based histories of diverse communities across this place now known as Canada are often rendered invisible.
Housing and heritage
St. Mark’s Place, Indwell
More affordable and supportive housing is coming to the Waterloo region in Ontario. Thanks to the collaboration of Indwell, a charity focused on housing vulnerable people and St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 43 affordable housing units will be created within the existing walls of St. Mark’s Church to provide much needed housing to vulnerable people in Kitchener.
Heritage is worth the investment
UBC Renew, Buchanan Building
Originally built in 1960 as a multi-purpose classroom, Buchanan Building D was renovated under the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Renew Program, a partnership between UBC and the provincial and federal government. The program provided 120 million dollars to upgrade the UBC campus and gave 12 buildings 40 more years of life for just over half of the cost of building new. The key goals of UBC Renew were to preserve heritage buildings, mitigate deferred maintenance debt, minimize environmental impact and to save money
Heritage and Climate Action
Sir John A. Macdonald (SJAM) building
Completed in 2015, The Sir John A. Macdonald (SJAM) building restoration in downtown Ottawa is an example of the potential of heritage buildings to be adapted to meet the realities of the climate crisis. The SJAM building was restored to address the changing climate but also to meet the present needs of the federal government including as the potential temporary House of Commons.
Events Listings
Check back with us soon for our Living Heritage Events!
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