Industrial Heritage Inventory and Cultural Map

Heritage BC has a series of interactive maps that geolocate and provide information on a range of heritage sites across the province. Each map covers a particular heritage theme. The other maps in the series can be found here.

According to the International Committee on the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage (ICOMOS) :

Industrial heritage consists of the remains of industrial culture which are of historical, technological, social, architectural or scientific value. These remains consist of buildings and machinery, workshops, mills and factories, mines and sites for processing and refining, warehouses and stores, places where energy is generated, transmitted and used, transport and all its infrastructure, as well as places used for social activities related to industry such as housing, religious worship or education.

It is also important to consider the broader definition of Industrial Heritage that  UNESCO has been embracing :

The new discipline of industrial archaeology celebrates the artefacts of the workplace that have as much meaning in our history as the religious and domestic artefacts and architecture to which more attention has been paid throughout the years. Our industrial heritage includes not only the mill and factory, but the social and engineering triumphs spawned by the new technologies: Neolithic flint mines, Roman aqueducts, company towns, canals, railways, bridges and other forms of transportation and power engineering.
It is important to note that Industrial Heritage exists in all phases of human development. Therefore it is not only found in the 19th and 20th centuries, but as well for example in prehistoric, medieval times.

– Michael Falser, UNESCO World Heritage Centre

The scope of activities that fall within the definition of industrial heritage, i.e., being related to industrial extraction, processing, production and transportation of raw materials or energy, is large. In BC, though extraction of raw materials stretches back thousands of years to early Indigenous quarrying of stone for implements – such as the Arrowstone Hills near Cache Creek, within Secwépemc territory – most of the province’s industrial heritage is confined to the post-colonial opening and growth of the region since the 1800s.

In BC, mining/mineral processing and the processing of logging activities were the key industrial heritage activities, and the railways and hydropower generation the main industrial infrastructure. Though not a comprehensive list, other notable industrial activities in BC include bridge-building, brick-making, shipbuilding and canning. These are the key industrial activities we intend to capture in this project. We do however invite communities to submit any site they consider to be industrial in nature. For sites not selected for inclusion on the cultural map, we will publish an inventory list as a means to share the diversity of industrial activities across the province.

While industrial heritage also relates to the equipment, as well as the intangible elements of industry (technologies or traditions) and the social aspects of those industrial activities (e.g., workers’ housing or amenities), in this project, we will generally be capturing the physical remains of buildings, important sites, or key infrastructure only.

Like many sites around the world, industrial growth profoundly changed BC. It brought technological innovation and established many post-colonial towns and villages, infrastructure and transportation routes and contributed to a strong provincial economy, largely from extracting natural resources – with some of the industries continuing to support communities and the economy today. Yet many decades of European colonization, displacement of Indigenous Peoples from their traditional lands owing to the colonial development of small- or large-scale sites, and a limited understanding of natural resource management and ecosystem degradation also left legacies of environmental and political dispossession that communities, families and individuals must still contend with many decades later. These different legacies help contextualize the ongoing conversations around present-day industrial activity in BC.

The Industrial Revolution profoundly modified landscapes and life styles. The massive means employed to extract raw materials and exploit the minerals and agricultural products resulted in great achievements and grandiose constructions, testifying to the creative genius of humankind.

Guardians of the past, industrial sites testify to the ordeals and exploits of those who worked in them. Industrial sites are important milestones in the history of humanity, marking humanity’s dual power of destruction and creation that engenders both nuisances and progress. They embody the hope of a better life, and the ever-greater power over matter.

– Michael Falser, UNESCO World Heritage Centre

In general, heritage sites in use before 1970 will be considered.

We hope to see a wide range of sites across the province submitted to us. Exactly how sites will subsequently be evaluated will depend on the volume of submissions we receive. However, we intend to form an advisory working group of knowledgeable professionals to review and evaluate the submissions and to create a shortlist of sites to be further developed into cultural map sites. The sites that are not included on the map will be included in a published inventory.

Nominations can be submitted by anyone in British Columbia, including organizations (community, non-profit & charitable); educational institutions; local governments; First Nations; and individuals.

The call for submissions is open until June 9th, 2023. The evaluation period will occur over summer 2023 with the map and inventory list published in October 2023.

If you have an Industrial Heritage Site that you plan on submitting, but are nervous that you won’t be able to meet the deadline, then please reach out to us and we can discuss individual cases.

Please complete our online entry form here.