Newsletter
In our FALL 2006 issue you'll find…
-> A Visit from the Minister
-> The Local Angle
-> MHPP Hits the Road
A Visit from the Minister
The Minister of Alberta Community Development, the Honourable Denis Ducharme, was on hand June 12, to launch the new Municipal Heritage Partnership Program, as part of Alberta’s commitment to the Pan-Canadian Historic Places Initiative. The Minister said, “In partnership with the Government of Canada, this program presents an excellent opportunity for local governments to work with the Government of Alberta, on a cost-shared basis, to preserve Alberta’s diverse historic places.”
The Municipal Heritage Partnership Program will help municipalities identify and protect locally and regionally significant historic places. These sites will be eligible for placement on the Alberta Register of Historic Places and the Canadian Register of Historic Places and have access to their associated funding programs. Through the Municipal Heritage Partnership Program, communities will be empowered to:
- Undertake surveys, develop inventories, registers and management plans for
their historic resources;
- Exercise their authority in recognizing and legally protecting historic
resources; and
- Increase their role as stewards and experts of their own local heritage.
At www.mhpp.ab.ca you will find information explaining the pan-Canadian Historic Places Initiative and the Alberta Municipal Heritage Partnership Program and the resources that may be available to you and how your community can become involved.
If you would like more information about these new initiatives or would like program staff to make a presentation to your Council, please feel free to contact Scott Barrett, Municipal Heritage Partnership Program Coordinator at (780) 431-2334; toll free by first dialing 310-0000.
Minister Ducharme stated, “This is an exciting time for heritage conservation in Alberta and Canada. We look forward to working with your municipality in recognizing and protecting our historic places.”
The Local Angle
Across Alberta, municipalities are realizing the significance of their unique heritage. Municipalities are looking for creative strategies to better understand and manage their potentially historic resources.
Over the past few years, the City of Grande Prairie has become increasingly aware of the need to protect their heritage, and have partnered with the Municipal Heritage Partnership Program (MHPP) to identify and evaluate the heritage resources they have through a Municipal Heritage Inventory. Recently Lois Harper, Manager of Culture, Grants & Awards for the City of Grande Prairie, took the time to share with RETRO-active how the Municipal Heritage Partnership Program has impacted their heritage strategy and process.
MHPP: What are the primary heritage planning issues (i.e., possibilities and/or challenges) within your municipal context?
LH: The challenges are primarily with our ability to move forward from a staffing perspective, with the process of protecting and preserving our resources in a timely way.
MHPP: In what ways has involvement with the MHPP affected your heritage program? (cost sharing, capacity building, etc.)
LH: We could not have moved forward with the process without the help of provincial resources. The staff, and in particular Scott Barrett, have been absolutely phenomenal in helping us establish our Management Plan, providing us with advice and encouragement, and providing staff and the community with training workshops. There is no way we could have undertaken the responsibility for local heritage management without them.
MHPP understands the time and workload pressures of municipal staff. To alleviate some of this burden, in all our cost-sharing arrangements, staff time allocated to MHPP projects can be calculated as part of the municipal cash contribution. The projects supported by MHPP are adaptable to current work in order to be maximally useful for each municipality.
The needs of each municipality in relation to heritage planning will vary. All activities can be tailored to local circumstances such as incorporating a heritage plan into a larger management planning exercise or entrenching a survey or inventory into area redevelopment plans.
MHPP Hits
the Road
A series of Roadshows, designed to personally introduce the Municipal Heritage Partnership Program were conducted throughout Alberta in the month of September. Seven key municipalities played host to these informative and interactive workshops, which were open to all interested in protecting heritage. MHPP staff were on hand to present in detail the specific projects and cost-sharing opportunities MHPP has to offer, as well as the tools of the pan-Canadian Historic Places Initiative. Time was allotted to answer questions about this new program. Municipal staff, elected officials, and all community members interested in protecting Alberta’s significant municipal heritage took the time to participate in these informative seminars.
Successful Roadshow seminars were held September 12-15 in Northern Alberta. MHPP staff spoke with local media in Fort McMurray at the Oil Sands Discovery Centre on September 12th, and showcased the program to key municipal leaders at the Grande Prairie Museum on the 14th. The first week of Roadshows was rounded out with a workshop at the Historic McKay Avenue School in Edmonton. Heritage Conservation Advisors Tom Ward and Gary Chen were on hand to speak about the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada, a comprehensive tool designed to guide the “bricks and mortar” interventions on historic places.
MHPP staff hit the highways once again September 25-29, introducing the program in the major urban centres of Central and Southern Alberta. Beginning with a well-attended meeting in Red Deer, Coordinator Scott Barrett and Outreach Officer Matthew Francis oriented attendees to the Historic Places Initiative, the specific projects and cost-sharing opportunities MHPP has to offer, as well as the ins and outs of Municipal Historic Resource designation. Heritage Conservation Advisors Fraser Shaw and Lorne Roder presented The Standards and Guidelines. Moving on to Calgary, staff met with municipal staff from the surrounding municipalities, as well as community representatives. Informative sessions in both Lethbridge and Medicine Hat brought the first MHPP Roadshow to a close. Keep posted as MHPP may conduct future Roadshows in the future in new locations to bring our services closer to more of Alberta’s municipalties.
If you were unable to attend the Roadshow or would like a presentation in your Municipality, please contact Matthew Francis at 780.438.8502 or via email at matthew.francis@gov.ab.ca