Auditor General Finds Canada’s Heritage Buildings At Risk

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Auditor General Finds Canada’s Heritage Buildings At Risk

Postby newsposter » Mon Feb 19, 2007 11:45 am

Link to the section of the Auditor General's report regarding federal heritage buildings:

http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/domino/reports ... 202ce.html

Newsrelease from the Heritage Canada foundation:

Auditor General’s Report Finds Canada’s Heritage Buildings Still At Risk – Communiqué
Ottawa, ON – February 13, 2007 –The Heritage Canada Foundation today welcomed the Auditor General’s ongoing critical appraisal of heritage stewardship by the federal government.

“The Auditor General acknowledges the link between conserving historic places and protecting the environment,” notes Natalie Bull, executive director of the Foundation. “It’s clear that with the current regime, Canada’s landmarks are still at risk of becoming landfill.”

In 2003, the Auditor General noted that federally owned heritage buildings would be lost to future generations unless action was taken. Today, the Auditor General says that “Canada’s built heritage is still afforded only uncertain protection.”

Ms. Bull welcomes the Auditor General’s recommendation for a stronger conservation regime: “What we really need is statutory protection. Canada is the only G-8 country without a binding law to protect historic places owned by its national government.”

The failure of the status quo is starkly evident in the crisis facing federally owned lighthouses. The government’s ‘general obligation’ to conserve historic places gets short shrift when funding is limited, with the result that icons like Cape Sable Lighthouse in Nova Scotia and B.C.’s Race Rocks Lighthouse are at risk of demolition by neglect. Bill S-220, introduced in the Senate in December 2006, is the sixth attempt to achieve statutory protection for lighthouses. Meanwhile, other federally owned historic places, including armouries and canals, fall under a policy that the Auditor General calls ‘weak’ and ‘passive.’ Federal post offices, port structures and archaeological sites are not even covered by policy.

HCF encourages Canadians to call for the long-awaited Historic Places Act, and to demand that it include statutory protection and maintenance standards for federally owned historic places.
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