1. HCF Funding Available for Fundy Shore Lighthouses
Heritage Canada Foundation / La fondation Héritage Canada

Ottawa, ON, April 24, 2012 – The Heritage Canada Foundation (HCF) is pleased to announce the availability of heritage grant funding for the repair and conservation of historic lighthouses along Nova Scotia’s Fundy Shore, in the counties of Digby, Annapolis and Kings. Funding will come from HCF’s Runciman Endowment Fund for Heritage Conservation, created with the assistance of a generous bequest.

HCF will consider funding requests from community groups and organizations seeking one-time financial support for repair and heritage conservation work at historic lighthouses in the three named counties. Among other considerations, priority will be given to:

· Proposals to preserve lighthouses that are included on the Department of Fisheries and Oceans surplus lists.
· Proposals for lighthouse preservation that include pledges of financial support from the community and/or other funding partners.

It is HCF’s hope that this new source of funding will encourage groups in the region to come forward with petitions nominating surplus lighthouses for designation. The Government of Canada owns hundreds of iconic lighthouses, and has declared almost all of them to be “surplus.” Canadians have until May 29, 2012 to nominate lighthouses that matter to them for designation under the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act. Almost all of them will require a proposal from an organization or group willing to acquire and invest in them. Financial support from the Runciman Fund can be part of a viable business plan to sustain historic lighthouses over the long term.

All applications will be reviewed by a committee with representation from the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society, the Nova Scotia Heritage Trust, the Annapolis Heritage Society and the Heritage Canada Foundation.

For more information, see the Terms and Conditions.

Donors who would like to contribute to the Runciman Fund for Heritage Conservation or help create additional lighthouse preservation funds are encouraged to contact the Heritage Canada Foundation.

The Heritage Canada Foundation is a national membership-based registered charity dedicated to the preservation of Canada’s historic places. Your support is vital to our work. Please join or make a tax-deductible donation today.

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For further information:

Carolyn Quinn, Director of Communications, cquinn@heritagecanada.org
Telephone: 613-237-1066 ext. 229; Cell: 613-797-7206

2. Toronto Railway Museum Future Derailed by Toronto Hydro
Toronto Railway Historical Association

Original Compressors in the Machine Shop

TRHA Frustrated by Utilitys Reversal of Promise on Roundhouse Machine Shop

Toronto, April 20, 2012 The Toronto Railway Historical Association (TRHA) has appealed directly to the President and CEO of Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited to enter into good faith discussions with the TRHA over the future of the Roundhouse Machine Shop which, since 2001, has been intended to house Torontos Railway Museum.

The Machine Shop, an integral part of the historic Roundhouse located in Roundhouse Park on Bremner Boulevard, constitutes the only remaining space available to the TRHA on this National Historic Site to fulfill its mandate, as directed by the City of Toronto, of establishing the Toronto Railway Museum. The museum will tell the story of Torontos rail history through a display of artifacts and images, will include a learning centre with extensive archives, research library and school tours lecture space and will feature simulators which will allow visitors to drive a diesel locomotive through the rail lands as they were in the 1950s.

In 2008, Toronto Hydro announced its intention to construct a transformer station on the north-west portion of the Roundhouse Park immediately below the Machine Shop. At that time, Toronto Hydro stated that the transformer station would be an unmanned, underground station with the Machine Shop made available for museum purposes. The TRHA and the City of Toronto dealt with Toronto Hydro on that basis, however, in November, 2011, the utility reversed its position and declared that the transformer station would occupy 60% of the Machine Shop above grade and that any remaining space would only be made available to the TRHA on a number of occasions throughout the year and at the discretion of Toronto Hydro.

This situation constitutes a complete reversal of the previous position of Toronto Hydro, not to mention a complete lack of transparency. Previous Toronto Hydro President and CEO David OBrien supported and encouraged our plans for Torontos Railway Museum, however, current CEO Anthony Haines has refused to meet with us to discuss possible alternatives, said Orin Krivel, president of the Toronto Railway Historical Association. We have been forced to deal repeatedly with their engineers rather than have meaningful discussions with the head of Toronto Hydro to arrive at a solution that preserves the Machine Shop for future museum use and clears the way for the transformer station.
To date over $22M dollars have been invested in the restoration and development of Roundhouse Park by the City of Toronto and State Development. Our TRHA volunteers have put in over 50,000 hours of work, including the restoration of rolling stock and associated rail buildings as well as the construction and operation of the miniature railway, said TRHA Project Spokesperson Glenn Garwood. We understand and appreciate that Toronto Hydro must satisfy current and future electrical power requirements and, in that spirit, we have proposed two reasonable alternatives for their consideration.

They have completely ignored our attempts to discuss these further with them.
The TRHA contends that the loss of the Machine Shop space eliminates the potential for revenue generation which would allow the Railway Museum to be self-sufficient and sustainable. It will also adversely affect both proposed and current programs and attractions and will destroy the possibility for a dynamic institution that would provide the opportunity for volunteer and community involvement, public and private partnerships, educational and vocational training opportunities and research activities and a major destination for tourists and residents alike.

If we lose the Machine Shop we lose the opportunity to complete a much needed attraction and to tell the story of Torontos rail history. It means we negate all the time, money, hard work and effort that have been invested in that site for more than a decade, said Krivel. We cannot allow Toronto Hydro to dictate the manner in which this site is managed, especially when there are acceptable alternative proposals for them to consider. There is simply too much at stake.

For More Information,Visit http://www.trha.ca
Contact:
Glenn Garwood, Project Spokesperson TRHA, g.garwood@yahoo.ca

3. 407 Historic Destruction
Catherine Nasmith

Both CBC and the Toronto Star have been reporting on the imminent dismantling of several historic buildings in the path of the 407 extension.

Things are heating up as heritage advocates prepare to set up a petition, write shocked and appalled letters to the Minister of Culture, 407 corporation, and start to meet with government representatives. 

The project proponents point to the lack of public interest in taking the buildings off their hands. For the mere cost of moving the buildings you could have a free house that has been sitting in a state of neglect for several years. Minimum costs 2-300,000.00 not including the cost of a lot to put the buildings on. Unknowns huge. Having to deal with a whole lot of government standards.....that's not a free house.

Surely an organization with the international deep pockets of the 407 could meet the public half-way by taking care of the costs of moving the buildings, say 50 km, with some strings attached on how the buildings are to be rehabilitated. That might ensure that these important buildings continue in use, instead of being scattered to the winds. 

And where is the Ontario Minister of Culture, shouldn't the government partners in this expropriation be able to insist that the most basic of heritage preservation standards are included in this mega-project.  So much of the GTA's heritage landscape and buildings are being subsumed into the relentless maw of suburban sprawl......the 407 exacerbates rather than helps. The Ontario government should not be an active agent of cultural destruction. 

Watch this space.

4. Globe and Mail: Finally, Saving Yonge St. Bank
Dave LeBlanc

Uncovering the beauty under bird poop on Torontos Yonge Street

Call him Mr. Yonge Street.

Well, right now, call him Mr. Cautious: “Feel this floor right here,” says Gary Switzer of MOD Developments as he probes a section of warped, decaying floor with the toe of his shoe, “that feels like you could go right through.”

Illuminated by a sliver of sunlight pushing past dirty double-hung windows, Mr. Switzer stands proudly (and somewhat precariously) on the third floor of his company's newest purchase, Darling & Pearson's 1905 Bank of Commerce at 197-199 Yonge St.

Click here for Link

5. Globe and Mail: Last Gasp of Roundhouse Railway Museum?
Kelly Grant

Roundhouse hydro transformer could kill railway museum

For nearly a decade, Orin Krivel has worked tirelessly to bring Toronto’s railroad history to life at Roundhouse Park.

The retired architect, 70, and a band of train-adoring volunteers have helped turn a once-derelict national historical site southeast of the CN Tower into a modest tourist attraction, one that co-exists happily with the Steam Whistle brewery.

But now the Toronto Railway Historical Association, of which Mr. Krivel is president, says the long-planned attraction is being squeezed out by a proposed hydro transformer station inside the Roundhouse’s 12,000-square-foot machine shop.

“Essentially, they have killed the museum,” Mr. Krivel said. “The machine shop represents the heart and the necessary soul of the museum.”

Toronto Hydro, which is building the transformer jointly with Hydro One, says it has little choice but to put the station at Roundhouse Park.

Editor's Note:
About a year ago BHN ran a story on this, it is disappointing that the situation has not improved.

Click here for Link

6. Globe and Mail: St. Stephen's in the Field - A new cultural centre
Dave Morris

Booze meets pews in the quest for local nightlife venues

St. Stephen's in the Field

After several sweaty hours of dancing, nothing goes down better than late-night eats. The two complementary pleasures are rarely available in the same spot, but, like nature, nightlife abhors a vacuum. At Happy Endings, one of the city’s many monthly DJ nights, you can walk right off the dance floor and up to the dim sum booth, where $5 gets you a sampler plate that you can scarf down without even having to leave the club. That’s because it’s not a club – the event takes place at Dim Sum King, a Chinese restaurant on Dundas West.

“Their dim sum is actually very delicious. I’ll probably grab one this weekend,” says Nancy Chen, one of the people behind Mansion, a local promotion company that puts on Happy Endings and which has a strong track record of hosting events in spaces that don’t typically have velvet ropes out front. “We were thinking of somewhere to do an interesting series, because there aren’t a lot of medium-sized venues in Toronto, not around the 300-400 [capacity] range.” Ms. Chen says they were inspired by a party series thrown by Pink Mafia, another local event promotions company, in a Chinese restaurant. “We decided to expand on that and make it a monthly.”

Mansion’s next show on April 27 features two rising UK artists, Addison Groove and Doc Daneeka, both of whom make dark and dub-reggae-influenced electronic music. Fans, however, may have rubbed their eyes in disbelief when they saw the venue announced next to the name: St. Stephen-In-The-Fields, an Anglican church next to Kensington Market. Many houses of worship would balk at hosting popular music, particularly the noisy and/or bass-heavy kind. But St. Stephen’s has been a pioneer in that regard: The church has also allowed events such as the indie-rock-focused Over The Top festival to book their spaces, bringing Hamilton garage-rock legends Simply Saucer and American electronic duo High Places back in 2008, and Mansion held their New Year’s Eve party (complete with bottle service) there in 2009.

Editor's Note:
Several years back I was involved in a local campaign to save this church. It is still hanging on, but needs much investment in its fabric.

Click here for Link

7. Globe and Mail: Views and Development Across Canada
Jane Taber and Anna Mehler Paperny

In Halifax, battle lines drawn in controversy over views and vistas

For nearly 40 years, the views of downtown Halifax from the city’s historic Citadel Hill have been held sacred, with Haligonians protecting sweeping vistas of their harbour and the peninsula with a series of strict rules.

But significant change is in the wind. For the first time since the so-called “viewplane” legislation came into effect in 1974, the city is about to amend the law because of the absurd situation in which one Halifax developer has found himself.

Joe Metlege has had to put on hold his $150-million redevelopment project of Fenwick Tower, originally built in 1969. Last month, permits in hand and work about to begin, he discovered the corners on one side of the 12th floor of the 34-storey apartment building would protrude 3.5 feet into the viewplane from Citadel Hill to the harbour.

He alerted the city.

The encroachment, caused by a new glass skin that was to be put on tower’s exterior, is indiscernible to the naked eye from Citadel Hill, which is about a kilometre away. It has been described by Robert Stapells, the former city councillor who helped created the viewplane rules, as the “equivalent of attaching a sewing needle to the building.”

Click here for Link

8. Planetizen: Height Controls in Washington D.C.
Jonathan Nettler

Are DC's Strict Height Limits and Arbitrary Planning Rules Hurting the City?

Two commentaries pick up on the recent push to loosen Washington D.C.'s notoriously conservative height limits, and argue that such controversial changes are overdue and, in fact, don't go far enough.

Josh Barro, writing in The Atlantic, sees the city's height restrictions as only the tip of a much larger land use iceberg. Barro argues that, "the real crisis of land use in Washington goes way beyond the height limit. It's that the District's planning and zoning apparatus is overall hostile to new development, usually allowing far less building that would be permitted by the Heights of Buildings Act of 1910. And while D.C.'s planning rules are restrictive, they are also arbitrary and unevenly enforced, making it a difficult market to enter."

And while he views proposals to relax the restrictions being floated by D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and Rep. Darrell Issa as a good start to addressing the problem, he argues that "if they really want to revitalize the district and encourage real estate development, they should junk the city's ridiculous approval process for one that offers clear and consistent rules that would apply equally to all developers. That would allow enough density to make use of the District's existing transportation infrastructure."

Editor's Note:
Interesting debate...Washington has a blanket height limit. Ottawa uses a more nuanced approach based on protecting key views, an approach pioneered at the University of Toronto's Centre for Landscape Research

Click here for Link

9. Toronto Star: Bishop's Block Returns
Susan Pigg

Toronto heritage landmarks get new lease on life

Heritage architect Scott Weir keeps a little piece of Toronto history on his desk — a handmade brick from the 1830s.

Deeply embedded is the paw print of a cat that he figures was wandering the brickyard back in the day.

The delightful find was uncovered recently during one of the most challenging heritage restorations Weir has ever overseen — the complete dismantling and rebuilding, row by mortared row, of a relatively rare piece of Toronto history called Bishop’s Block.

Reviving one of finest examples of Toronto’s Georgian past, and one of the few buildings left in the city from the 1830s, was a passion for Weir, as well as for developers of the sleek new Shangri-La hotel that shares the block at University Ave. and Adelaide St.

Click here for Link

10. Simcoe.com: Another Municipal Heritage Committee Disabled
Trina Berlio

Council suspends heritage committee, changes name

WASAGA BEACH – Council has suspended the terms of reference for the town's heritage advisory committee, saying its citation of the Ontario Heritage Act is too close for comfort.

"I don't think any of us were comfortable with the way it was going or with the terms of reference," said Mayor Cal Patterson. "It is the intent of this council to make changes to the direction it was going."

The terms of reference was approved by council on July 27, 2010.

The committee will also undergo a name change. Council is suggesting it be called the historical advisory committee.

Councillor Ron Anderson, who sits on the committee, said there is some frustration over the changes. He said one person resigned over it.

"They just want it to be over," said Anderson.

Editor's Note:
Such clashes between a MHC and their Council points to the need to have an outside body, such as a local ACO branch to pick up the ball once the MHC has given its advice to Council. Nearby Collingwood has a super successful ACO branch doing advocacy, restoration, programming, leaving the MHC to stick to its primary job of giving sage advice to their Council.

Click here for Link

11. Toronto Star: Future of Former U.S. Embassy Building
Susan Delacourt

Ottawa mayor Jim Watson wants to see a national-glory museum

OTTAWA—Here is something you won’t see in the Ottawa tourism brochures, but it’s probably handy information if you’re planning a trip to the capital — the area around Parliament Hill is a bit of a mess these days.

A massive construction project has hollowed out some of the most beautiful architecture directly facing Parliament Hill, while the Sparks Street pedestrian mall, a block back, is missing only tumbleweed in its increasing resemblance to a ghost town.

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12. West End Dumplings: A farewell to Winnipeg's 135 year-old Albert Street Block

A farewell to the Albert Street Block

It's sad that the Albert Street Business Block at 44 Albert Street went up in flames today taking two businesses with it. You may remember that it was part of an on again / off again demolition debate between 2005 and 2008 when the owner of the derelict St. Charles Hotel wanted to tear it down to create a surface parking lot.

Despite its low density and humble appearance, 44 Albert managed to stick around for 135 years while the city grew up around it....

Click here for Link

13. Globe and Mail: Kingston Penitentiary Shutdown
Cary Mills

Shutdown of Kingston Pen clears path for Alcatraz North

Kingston Penitentiary

The shuttering of Canada’s oldest prison has opened up the possibility of turning the Kingston institution into a tourist destination comparable to Alcatraz.

The federal government announced the cost-saving measure of closing the aging Kingston Penitentiary last week. The shutdown will begin next year and will be complete by 2014-15.

The maximum-security institution, on the shores of Lake Ontario, a short drive from downtown, has housed the likes of Paul Bernardo, Russell Williams and Clifford Olson. Notorious inmates, riots and daring escapes have dominated public attention throughout the Pen’s 177-year history in Kingston – but it has also been a steady source of hundreds of jobs for the community.

Once the fortress closes, it could bring something else to Kingston, if there’s support and funding to ensure it isn’t left dormant.

Click here for Link

14. West End Dumplings: The Old-time painted signs

The Old-time painted signs of Winnipeg and New York !

....Over the years a number of these signs have disappeared due to demolition or vandals adding graffiti. Still, though, there are hundreds out there. Next time you're walking around the city look up, wayyy up !

Click here for Link

15. CBC Manitoba: Winnipeg's historic Merchants Hotel set for major redevelopment plan

Merchants Hotel set for major redevelopment plan

Premier Greg Selinger announced the 99-year-old building and four adjacent lots will be turned into a mixed-use building that will contain housing, education and commercial business...

Click here for Link

16. Winnipeg Free Press: Flames tear at heart of Winnipeg's Historic Exchange District

Flames tear at heart of the Exchange

One of Winnipeg's oldest residential dwellings has been consumed by a $430,000 fire that destroyed an Exchange District heritage building and sent heavy smoke billowing across downtown Thursday.

Shortly before 9:30 a.m., fire began tearing through the Albert Street Business Block, a low-rise commercial building between the St. Charles Hotel and the Royal Albert Arms on Albert Street. The small structure contained three street-level retail units built in the 1920s as well as the remnants of a two-storey home built in 1877, when the city was only four years old....

Click here for Link

17. Winnipeg Free Press: Manitoba's Upper Fort Garry reborn
Brent Bellamy

A fort reborn

...With the loss of Upper Fort Garry, the site would eventually fade into history, marked only by a small stone gate hidden behind a gas station. In 2006, the city agreed to sell the property to Crystal Developers, who proposed the construction of a 20-storey residential tower.

The project announcement catapulted the historic site into the spotlight of public awareness, inspiring a passionate civic debate over its future. Transforming a long-dormant property into downtown's first new residential highrise in more than 20 years was an attractive proposal. In the end, however, public opposition caused the developer to back away and control of the property was given to the volunteer group, Friends of Upper Fort Garry.

The result will be that this summer, 130 years after the fort's demolition, the site will finally begin its transformation into the attraction of pioneer history described in the Montreal Star long ago....

Click here for Link

18. Winnipeg Free Press: Winnipeg's Selkirk Avenue can have a future
Sid Green

Selkirk Avenue can have a future

....Selkirk Avenue did have a unique atmosphere. It was a separate downtown for the largely European immigrant community of north Winnipeg. Although other parts of the city had and have their commercial areas, none is quite like Selkirk.

The three long blocks from Salter to McGregor streets were crammed with commercial establishments, with Oretzki's Department Store, where I worked for two years, being the most prominent. Everybody shopped at Ortetzki's, noted for its low prices...

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19. Saskatoon: Architectural controls considered for Broadway
Saskatoon Star Phoenix

Architectural controls considered for Broadway

The look and feel of new buildings on one of Saskatoon's most popular streets will soon be controlled by the city.

An architectural control district for Broadway Avenue - the second such district in Saskatoon after River Landing - will be tabled before council this spring. It will set out the parameters for new buildings and guide development along the historic business strip....

Click here for Link

20. The Atlantic - Cities: Everyone Wants to Look at New York's Municipal Archives Photos

Everyone Wants to Look at New York's Municipal Archives Photos

New York City's Municipal Archives just released over 870,000 images from its photographic collection. The incredible collection amounts to a visual coming-of-age story, documenting its maturation into one of the world's most influential cities...

Click here for Link

21. The Atlantic - Cities: The fading, old-timey ads of New York City

The fading, old-timey ads of New York City

The images, painted years ago onto the side of buildings all over the city, sell solutions for everything a body might need: cure-alls, snacks, clothes, drinks and laundry products, fur vaults, speakeasies and even undertakers. Jump spoke with Atlantic Cities this week about some of his favorite images, what they say about the history of the city that hosts them, and why he was first drawn to fading ads not long after he was diagnosed with HIV....

Click here for Link

22. Planetizen: Who's beneffiting from historic preservation ?

Who's beneffiting from historic preservation ?

The popular image of New Urbanism as a movement centered on local character and human scale lines up nicely with the themes of historic preservation. But when it comes to protecting old neighborhoods, the lines of alliance and opposition are shifting, on account of new trends in how and why communities push for historic designation....

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23. Globe and Mail: United Nations Complex
Lisa Rochon

At the United Nations, updating a modernist icon

At the United Nations, updating a modernist icon
LISA ROCHON
NEW YORK— From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Apr. 30, 2012 6:30PM EDT
Last updated Tuesday, May. 01, 2012 1:28PM EDT
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At the tall iron gates of the United Nations Headquarters in New York, Marian Miszkiel, a Canadian engineer who has previously rebuilt bombed-out buildings in Kosovo, hands me a hard hat and leads me through security and toward the entrance of the General Assembly building. We haul open the heavy silver and nickel front doors, designed by the formidable Canadian modernist Ernest Cormier, into an airy lobby with balconies curved like massive white bones. Boomerang-shaped, the five-storey Assembly is a marvel of mid-century design, a mostly unsung hero of 1950s architecture conceived during that fragile postwar era by a prestigious board of design consultants nominated by member governments, including the legendary architects Oscar Niemeyer and Le Corbusier, the project’s chief architect, Wallace K. Harrison, and Cormier.

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24. Globe and Mail: Mies in Montreal
Dave LeBlanc

Miess Montreal gas station gets new lease on life

It’s been called the most beautiful gas station in the world.

So beautiful, in fact, a movie, Regular or Super: Views on Mies van der Rohe, featured it in 2004.

And now it’s getting a beautiful new life.

Long, low and in his trademark black steel, the shuttered-since-2008 Esso station by Bauhaus master Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, at boulevard de l’Île des Soeurs and rue Berlioz in Montreal’s Nuns’ Island community, currently lies stripped of a little of its beauty – huge sheets of glass and their associated mullions have been numbered and disassembled for restoration – but by autumn, the building will be buzzing with youth and seniors as a maison des générations.

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25. Globe and Mail: Early Curtain Wall
Dave Leblanc

A 60s staple, the curtain wall, is disappearing from Toronto

In the mid-1990s, a Vancouver developer transformed the strikingly Modernist 1957 B.C. Electric building into “The Electra” condominiums. A few years later, Torontonians watched as the equally striking 1958 Union Carbide building on Eglinton Avenue East was stuck down by a wrecker's ball.

In 2010, however, at least one Toronto developer got some mid-century modern religion: Currently, the 1957 Imperial Oil building on St. Clair Avenue West – complete with abstract painter R. York Wilson's lobby mural intact – is undergoing a sensitive makeover into a residential tower.

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26. Daily Mail: Modern Chinese Ghost Towns

The ghost towns of China

These amazing satellite images show sprawling cities built in remote parts of China that have been left completely abandoned, sometimes years after their construction.

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27. Former J.D. Strachan HQ for Sale
Harvey Malinsky

HERITAGE LOVER’S DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY

2220 King Road, King City, Ontario L7B 1L3

A landmark building originally built as a residence between 1860-1880

This magnificent century residence was lovingly restored by, Jim Strachan, past owner of J.D. Strachan Construction Limited, a strong promoter and advocate of local heritage and a member of the Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee. The property was purchased by Jim in the early 1990’s, extensively renovated and converted into one and two-storey office space along with two rental apartments.

Jim’s personal vision for the development of the property included the design of two separate buildings on either side of the existing residence to compliment the historic character and scale of the residence. An alternative design includes adding extensions to the existing structure. With a 16,000 sq. ft. floor plate permitted, a 2-3 storey addition could provide up to and possibly in excess of 32,000 sq. ft. of finished space.

With the house being situated towards the front and centre of a 163.8” x 190’ (31,798 s.f./.73 acres) essentially rectangular lot, a very unique and exciting opportunity exists for someone who is looking for a special development opportunity. Presently, there is designated parking east and at the rear of the buildings. The rear portion of the lot is unimproved but also has development potential.

The property has been identified as having heritage value and has been recommended by the Heritage Advisory Committee for addition to the Register.
In meetings with the Directors of Planning & Heritage at the Township of King, a show of support towards a variety of creative developments focused on maintaining the impressive heritage presence of this site was shown.

Presently, the property is fully lease by 3 commercial tenants and 2 residential tenants, with returns that could be significantly increased.

For additional information on the development potential of this site, please contact Harvey Malinsky, Broker, RE/MAX Hallmark Realty Ltd., Brokerage 416-486-5588 Harvey@HomesWithUs.com

28. Harper Government Cuts 1600 Jobs at Parks Canada
Catherine Nasmith

This week there was an announcement of job cuts in several federal departments, but the biggest slice is coming from Parks Canada, which includes heritage staff of all the Parks Canada National Historic Sites, some of which are in National Parks as well.

If Canada's Parks and Historic Sites are not important to our own recreation and general health, they are certainly important as international tourist attractions. 

At this stage it is not clear just how many jobs in various sites are affected, but cutting the core of the heritage expertise in the country cannot be good for the future of heritage conservation in Canada. As BHN has a lot of Parks Canada addresses on the subscriber list, I am hoping that subscribers will be able to share information on how this is going to affect them and others.

This last budget is disastrous for the environmental movement cutting environmental assessments. At the same time Revenue Canada Agency is auditing environmental organizations to make sure they are not overstepping their 10% advocacy spending targets. Environmental Defence Fund lost its charitabel status recently. It seems that heritage is now being hammered in a similar way. 

If you have more detailed information on how these cuts  will roll out, if you are affected personally, please send a short note to BHN to advise.