Town of Oakville

Ontario

2010 Prince of Wales Prize

The Town of Oakville had the foresight to include policies for heritage conservation as far back as the early 1950s. With the acquisition and preservation of the First Oakville Post Office, the inclusion of heritage policies in its Official Plan in 1962, and the implementation of the new tools available under the Ontario Heritage Act (designation, heritage districts, heritage register), Oakville is recognized as a community with an outstanding sense of history and character. It was one of the first municipalities in Ontario to achieve more than 100 designations and today has over 500 properties designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. Oakville was the first municipality in Ontario to establish a heritage conservation district in an urban context (Old Oakville – designated in 1983), and to oversee the addition of two more districts, with two more in the works for designation in the next couple of years. Through much hard work, dedication and support from the community, the Town of Oakville has demonstrated for six decades what a municipality can do to succeed in preserving its heritage despite ever-increasing pressure for development. The Town of Oakville was presented with the Prince of Wales Prize in St. John’s in October 2010.