Today, we write to inform you that the 2020 annual conference has been cancelled.
FIND RESOURCES FOR THE HERITAGE SECTOR
While the COVID-19 situation was quickly unfolding, we had been researching health protocols for public gatherings, monitoring actions taken by other smaller conferences and events, and communicating with the corporate office of the conference hotel.
Last week, we had prepared a statement that was intended to go on our website and in the newsletter, but within hours the situation in BC had changed and our message was out of date.
It was clear, we no longer had a responsibility to produce a conference, asking people to attend a public event, but we had an obligation to shift our focus to the safety of our community, members, staff, and everyone’s family.
We considered postponing the conference, but the uncertainty of the rapidly changing situation makes it impossible to confidently select alternative dates. It is our hope that some of the conference programming can be delivered through online platforms, as well as rescheduled as part of the 2021 conference.
We wish you and your staff, volunteers and families all good health.
Directors and staff
Heritage BC
2020 Conference Panellists (here)
2020 Conference schedule at-a-glance (here)
2020 Conference sponsors (here)
The Culture of Heritage: Place and Space
Heritage exists in the broad spectrum between the tangible and intangible. It is our places for work, living, loving, seeing, and remembering. And it is our spaces for meeting, sharing, understanding, listening, and learning.
Heritage describes the relationships of the physical and conceptual, of land and people, of communities and cultures, and of environments and traditions. We conserve sites, preserve artefacts, build communities, capture stories, map names, fight climate change, preserve land, and protect environments.
At our 2020 conference, we explore all the ways that heritage creates places and spaces to transform our lives, societies, and environments.
Chilliwack, BC
May 7-9, 2020
Talking about Built Heritage: Starting a New Dialogue (Thursday, May 7)
With historic, environmental, social, urban, and economic values, heritage conservation should be recognized as a great opportunity for communities of all sizes and needs. Yet, so often, heritage is regarded as a challenge and sometimes even an impediment to the very values conservation can sustain.
Why is that? Why is heritage conservation not an automatic default for urban design and societal development? Why is it not a natural response to affordable housing, economic and social equity, economic development, and climate change?
We know many of the reasons for this dilemma, ranging from financial constraints to code regulations, and from changing priorities to simple unawareness. But, as we grapple with these issues, we must also consider how do we, as heritage practitioners, contribute to the polarizing struggle between the ideals and realities of conserving the built environment.
Is it time for a new context and conversation for heritage? Is it time for a bigger discussion that helps us find a common ground and community-wide understanding?
Patrice Frey, historic preservationist and president of the National Main Street Center, believes the time has come as she puts before the heritage field the challenge “to launch a multi-disciplinary dialogue on the future of older buildings. This conversation must extend beyond traditional preservationists and include those in finance, affordable housing, community development, sustainability, and other fields. Let’s consider new opportunities for impact, confront uncomfortable truths about where we may be falling short, and be vigilant in our efforts to find and embrace creative new tools for preservation. The future of historic places may well depend upon it.”
Let’s start the dialogue.
This day-long built heritage intensive will feature presentations, panels and group conversations.
Special guests include:
Wilco van Bemmel, CEO, Dunefield
Natalie Bull, Executive Director, National Trust for Canada
Chris Wiebe, Manager, Heritage Policy & Government Relations, National Trust for Canada
James Emery, Principal, Iredale Architecture
Sponsored by Iredale Architecture
Supported by Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals and BC Association of Heritage Professionals
Achieving and Maintaining Healthy, Respectful Workplaces (Thursday, May 7 at 11:00am)
In a world of greater awareness, changing tolerances, and trending hashtags (#museumstoo), managers, directors, and senior staff must accept new responsibilities and learn new skills to create safe workplace environments.
Exploring these critical responsibilities and skills, “Achieving and Maintaining Healthy, Respectful Workplaces” brings forth better awareness on critical subject and provides resources that will create optimal work environments. We will discuss and define various forms of harassment, examine workplace behaviours, and consider provincial legislation. Additionally, we will review situations and scenarios to identify how to create and sustain a respectful workplace and consider the roles and responsibilities of managers, employers, and employees.
Through this workshop, which was developed by the Cultural Human Resources Council, participants will receive tools and tips to develop workplace policies and procedures so that they can achieve and maintain respectful workplaces.
Presented by Natasha Tony, Elevate Inclusion Strategies
Are We Any Closer? (Friday, May 8)
On the eve of Heritage BC’s 40th anniversary and the province’s 150th anniversary of joining Confederation, we take a look backward to look forward. And we ask the question, “Are we any closer?”
This session will feature presentations and an open forum as we delve into the rapidly changing field of heritage and tackle one or two "elephants in the room". With international, national and provincial perspectives, we will be able to expand the contexts of this critical and influential conversation.
Panel includes:
Natalie Bull, Executive Director, National Trust for Canada
Richard Linzey, Director, Heritage Branch, Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development
Katharine Turvey, Programme Officer, Culture, UNESCO
Opening Plenary sponsored by RDH Building Science
There are many challenges facing the broader heritage sector and the only way to deal with them is to tackle them head-on. This is the Idea Lab: a forum where you are the active participant as we seek to identify solutions and recommendations that address the issues and improve the outcomes of our work.
Each session will start as a working lunch (which is provided as part of your registration) and will continue for approximately 2 hours, but the sessions can continue as long as the ideas flow and energy permits. We have identified conversation leaders for each of the topics, but there will be no presentations. The format will be an open forum so you can have your say and can be part of the solutions-based conversations.
Your ideas and recommendations will be captured to become part of the "heritage manifesto 2020", a document that will help guide our work over the following year and lead us to the 40th-anniversary conference.
The Idea Labs are sponsored by Gambrinus Malting
Community Heritage Commissions: Crisis or Cure? (Saturday, May 9)
Heritage commissions are part of the bedrock of community conservation and a principal tool for community input on the priorities and values of local heritage. Yet commissions and their variants are not common and, of those that do exist, some succeed, others stagnate, while others fail. Commissioners are often caught between “old school” conservation and the constraints of real-world finances and codes. And, while commissions are the community’s ‘voice’, they are sometimes seen as “burdensome” or “bureaucratic”. So, where does all of this leave local heritage conservation and a key conservation tool?
In this Idea Lab, we delve into these issues to investigate the solutions and we dare to imagine Community Heritage Commissions 2.0, as we set our sights on improving the state of conservation throughout BC.
Conversation leaders include:
Katie Cummer, Cummer Heritage Consulting
Britney Dack, Heritage Planner, City of New Westminster
Elana Zysblat, Ance Building Services
And What About Environmental Resiliency?
On one hand, heritage conservation is recognized as a key to reducing negative environmental impact and harmful landfill waste, and an abundance of statistics tells us the “greenest” buildings are the ones that already exist.
Yet, on the other hand, we have to recognize environmental conservation is not a common driving force for heritage conservation and, in fact, the connection of resiliency and conservation is not well understood.
As the warnings from scientists and global citizens become louder and more urgent, we need to ask ourselves some tough questions. Do we conserve for the sake of heritage or for greater values, such as environmental resiliency? Is heritage conservation as we know it still relevant in a time when environmental concerns and financial pressures dominate? Is heritage conservation a cure or should we be concerned about environmental resiliency?
In this Idea Lab, we tackle the tough questions and explore not only our responsibilities to the environmental crisis, but also the principles and values that are core to heritage conservation. We dare to ask: Is it time to change the conversation?
Conversation leaders include:
James Emery, Principal, Iredale Architecture
Richard Linzey, Director, Heritage Branch, Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development
Gord Macdonald, Heritageworks
Wilco van Bemmel, CEO, Dunefield
Sponsored by Ankenman Marchand Architects
Protopia Now: New thinking about the kind of world we want to create and live in. (Saturday, May 9)
If tomorrow cannot be perfect (Utopian), it can be made better with incremental, progressive steps (Protopian). This session asks us to think big – really big – to proactively bridge our current state with new thinking and new possibilities for an ever-progressive evolution of understanding and relationships. To help us envision the kind of world we want to create and live in, we have assembled a panel of big thinkers to critically and imaginatively explore our three compelling questions:
• If the current crisis facing Indigenous languages and cultures subsided and we moved beyond revitalization and reclamation, what would we like to see happen in the field of Indigenous heritage?
• When we have moved beyond revitalization and reclamation, what are the new relationships?
• Similarly, what grant programs and supporting systems will be needed to safeguard and maintain their Indigenous cultural heritage and to build better relationships?
Conversation leaders include:
Karen Aird, Heritage Manager, First Peoples' Cultural Council; Indigenous Heritage Circle
Angie Bain, Researcher, Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs
Natalie Bull, Executive Director, National Trust for Canada
Kamala Todd, Indigenous Arts and Culture Planner, City of Vancouver; Indigenous City Media
Katharine Turvey, Programme Officer, Culture, UNESCO
K. Jane Watt, Fenton Street Press and past president of British Columbia Historical Federation
The Heritage SLAM! has now become a staple of the Heritage BC conference. Inspired by Pecha Kucha and Ignite events, Heritage SLAM! gives delegates the opportunity to showcase their best, most innovative and exciting projects in a fast-paced and fun evening. Each presenter shows off their work with 15 slides and 15 seconds per slide. SLAM!
The event is free admission for all Heritage BC conference attendees (or $25 a ticket for those who are not attending the full conference). Heritage BC will be offering appetizers to all guests and there will be a “cash bar” at the event.
The event will be held at the Coast Hotel on Thursday, May 7.
Sponsored by RJC Engineers
Chilliwack Museum and Chilliwack City Hall National Historic Site
Small and beautifully detailed, Chilliwack’s Beaux-Arts City Hall has been a prominent downtown feature for over 100 years. The mature landscaping and war memorial park underscore its long-standing importance to the citizens of Chilliwack and, as a National Historic Site, to British Columbians. Of course, the human story of the land long pre-dates the founding of Chilliwack and its City Hall, and today the Chilliwack Museum, which occupies the site, reflects on early contact between the Stó:lō and early European settlers with “T’xwelátsé: We Have to Learn to Live Together in a Good Way”. Join curator Anna Irwin for an insider’s look at this exhibition that encourages us to imagine that first meeting that resulted in thousands of newcomers gathering in the Chilliwack area during the 1858 gold rush.
X̲áːytem National Historic Site
Today, X̲áːytem is a National Historic Site, but carbon dating has shown the site is at least 9,000 years old and archaeologists have unearthed a longhouse believed to be 6,000 years old. Containing the spiritually significant transformer rock and its association with the preservation of Stó:lō history, culture and spirituality, X̲áːytem is a testament to Stó:lō spirituality and survival. Dr. Naxaxalhts’i (Sonny McHalsie), Cultural Advisor/Historian of the Stó:lō Research and Resource Management Centre, takes us along a path of Stó:lō history and culture and of great significance to Canadian heritage.
National Historic Site Gur Sikh Temple
Considered a gift given by settlers, the 100 + year-old Abbotsford Gur Sikh Temple (est. 1911) is a testament to the pride, vision and steadfastness of a community that persevered against many odds to carve out a religious, social and political place for themselves and their families. The structure stands out as “an adaptation of traditional Sikh forms to Canadian conditions which nevertheless embodies the fundamental beliefs of Sikhs and their early experience as immigrants in Canada” (historicplaces.ca). Today, this revitalized National Historic Site has opened up critical content and information in a new form of access to local people and those from around the world who visit it. With Satwinder Kaur Bains, explore this extraordinary site and learn how it has become a space and place for cross-cultural exchange, bringing contemporary issues to the forefront, while informing the future.
Satwinder Kaur Bains, PhD, Director, South Asian Studies Institute, University of the Fraser Valley
Five Corners (Thursday, May 7 at 5:00pm)
Central to the rejuvenation of Chilliwack’s city centre is the creation of a sustainable and walkable district with a mix of businesses, cafés, shops and residences that reflect the area’s historical significance. Five Corners is a project that promises to transform the historic downtown core by recapturing the past while creating a new vision for the future. While exploring this new development, this tour considers the implications of placing heritage at the centre of a rejuvenation project, explores the past influences design and planning, and even touches on the financing models and communications plans. Five Corners is a project that has garnered the enthusiasm of the public and the support of government and, by any measure, it should be considered a success story. Tour participants will have an opportunity to end the tour at the local pub, Triple Play, located in the historic Bank of Montreal Building.
Jon Kinneman, Marketing & Art Director, Algra Brothers
Chilliwack: A Heritage Walk (Friday, May 8 at 4:30pm)
Stretch your legs and get some fresh air during this one-hour stroll through historic downtown Chilliwack. Situated in the traditional territory of the Stó:lō Nation, spanning from the community of Yale to Fort Langley, Chilliwack’s downtown has been the centre of this community for more the 140 years. Within its core you will find businesses, churches, civic buildings and homes, chronicling the city’s development from the 1860s to the present. Join Laura Reid and Heritage Chilliwack in the hotel lobby for a prompt start and end the tour at Flashback Brewing on Mill Street. (Don’t forget your comfortable shoes and please dress for the weather.)
Five Faces, Five Corners: The Social Experience of Chilliwack’s Downtown (Friday, May 8 at 4:30pm)
This exhibition explores the evolving social landscape of Chilliwack’s Five Corners area. Located on Stó:lō First Nation’s S’ólh Téméxw (Our World), the exhibition will trace the downtown’s humble origins at Chilliwack Landing to the bustling center of Five Corners today. From diner nooks to the hitching post, the exhibition will highlight the people and social spaces of Chilliwack’s downtown, highlighting the accomplishments of five individuals from Chilliwack’s past and present whose lives were and continue to be intimately intertwined with the history and development of Five Corners. Meet at the Chilliwack Museum, 45820 Spadina Ave.
Heritage Tours Sponsor
The Heritage Tours are sponsored by Ravenstone Masonry Conservation Inc.
Supported by Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals and BC Association of Heritage Professionals
More than Meets the Eye: Why Heritage Projects Have Such Diverse Outcomes
A conserved heritage asset is like the tip of an iceberg, while underneath it a long and complicated process of research, analysis, planning, and negotiation is obscured from view. We may aim for an ideal conservation standard, but that standard is subject to a complex mix of influences, including the economic, environmental, societal, and legal aspects, that affect conservation proposals and outcomes that we see. In this workshop, we ask the panellists to reflect on the opportunities and obstacles that have influenced their decisions and impacted the final outcomes. There is more to a conservation project than meets the eye.
Britney Dack, Heritage Planner, City of New Westminster
Donald Luxton, Senior Cultural Heritage Advisor, Donald Luxton & Associates Inc.
Glade Schoenfeld, Associate, Building Science and Restoration, RJC
Elana Zysblat, Ance Building Services
Sponsored by Ankenman Marchand Architects
Mapping Heritage: Uncovering Community
Providing value and stimulating interest, Heritage BC’s cultural maps continue to be among the most visited pages on its website. The process of mapping heritage is more than putting pins on a map – it provides a way to bring communities together, while revealing a rich array of meaning and significance. In this workshop, we explore how cultural heritage maps not only interpret and document a community, but how the process is a social tool to bring people together to learn and to share values and to celebrate diversity and distinctiveness.
Imogene L. Lim, Anthropology, Vancouver Island University
Christina Reid, Executive Director, Heritage Abbotsford Society
Elad Tzadok, Scopitone Films
Hayley Gray, Scopitone Films
Cathi Charles Wherry, Special Advisor, First Peoples' Cultural Council
Succession: Working with Youth Interns
With the ageing of the sector, young workers are essential to long-term sustainability. Without investing in young talent, the heritage sector will inevitably experience talent and knowledge gaps in the future. Internships are so much more than cheap labour and a means to funding. Instead, internships provide professional experience, leadership development, cultural support, and professional, cultural, and social network through the intern cohort. For the employer, there is an investment in the organization’s future and diversity, but also the future and diversity of the sector. To encourage more diverse voices in the heritage sector is to recognize heritage for what it can be.
Panel includes:
Christina Reid, Executive Director, Heritage Abbotsford Society
Lorisa Williams, Collections Manager, Heritage Abbotsford Society
Anna Irwin, Curator, Chilliwack Museum and Archives
Karen Dearlove, Curator, North Vancouver Museum & Archives
Chris Wiebe, Manager, Heritage Policy & Government Relations, National Trust for Canada
Other Voices: Loss, Memory and the Evolution of Cultural Heritage
It was not that long ago that cultural heritage was not provided with the space to be part of heritage conversations. But that has been changing in recent years as the topics have evolved, and new faces, and voices have been invited to participate. Today, we recognize that memory institutions (archives, libraries, museums, schools, and historic sites) have responsibility for inclusivity, as well as for preserving and interpreting the cultural record. In this workshop, we welcome new voices, as we explore loss, memory and the evolution of cultural heritage.
Panel includes:
Angela Clarke, Museum Director and Curator, Il Museo, Italian Cultural Centre
Fran Morrison, BC Black History Awareness Society
Silvia Mangue, BC Black History Awareness Society
Michael Schwartz, Director of Community Engagement, Jewish Museum and Archives
Building Communities with Social Purpose Real Estate & Heritage Partnerships
Rising rents and taxes, neighbourhood revitalization and densification, and shifting government priorities make access to housing and property one of the most discussed topics in our society. From community hubs and mission-minded co-working spaces to art centres and family service centres, not-for-profit and social purpose organizations are leaders in driving community solutions, and heritage is very much a part of the spaces in which vital programs are delivered. This session provides an opportunity to learn about leading creative approaches to social purpose real estate, partnerships with communities, and the activation of heritage properties. From successful case studies, latest research findings, and opportunities for mission-based collaborations, social purpose real estate and heritage is a relationship rich with opportunity.
Panel includes:
Jacqueline Gijssen, Project Director, Social Purpose Real Estate Collaborative
Jennifer Johnstone CEO, Central City Foundation
From the Ground Up: Program Design with Inclusivity
So often, programs and projects are offered to engage stakeholders, but they are developed, adopted and implemented without the participation of those people who will be affected. With this workshop, we can explore program design from the ground up. We can explore the question: “How do we connect with marginalized communities that have not been part of the mainstream heritage and how do we involve them in the early stages of program design?”
Panel includes:
Janice Alpine, Business Development Officer/Tourism Engagement, Ktunaxa Nation Council
Nav Nagra, Communications and Events Manager, Vantage Point
Sarah Ling, Principal, Saltwater City Consulting
K. Jane Watt, Fenton Street Press and past president of British Columbia Historical Federation
Elana Zysblat, Ance Building Services
Taking Action 1: Creating Diversity on your Board and Organizations
Diversity and inclusion equip organizations and boards with tools to create a culture that actively embraces a spectrum of voices and lived experiences. Learn key concepts and strategies, explore the concepts, implications, and benefits of diversity, and understand how you can embed diversity into policies and practice. This presentation is for organizational and community leaders (from institutions both large and small) who want to increase diversity and inclusion but are not sure where to start.
Panel includes:
Nav Nagra, Communications and Events Manager, Vantage Point
Taking Action 2: What have we learned
This we know: our communities are diverse, and heritage must include the diverse stories of all people. We also know that developing relationships and shared visions is tricky and sometimes even elusive. But we take our role as community leaders seriously, taking on the challenges and building upon successes. This workshop asks those leaders to pass along their direct knowledge, helping us develop of culture of sector learning. The projects discussed in this workshop were funded through the Taking Action and Indigenous Partnership streams of the Heritage Legacy Fund.
Panel includes:
Lucas Hung, BC Heritage Fairs
Chief Patrick Michell, Kanaka Bar Indian Band
Justine Nelson, Rivershed Society of BC
Kathryn Gagnon, Curator/Manager, Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives
Karen Dearlove, Curator, North Vancouver Museum & Archives
Laura Saretsky, Heritage Program Manager, Heritage BC
Heritage: Larger Than Life
Murals are increasingly becoming community centrepieces that celebrate the history and heritage. Whether the artistic expression is abstract, photorealistic, surrealist, expressionist or graffiti, the artwork helps to create vibrant neighbourhoods that people want to visit, live in, and care for. Passersby are encouraged to slow down and admire their surroundings, providing moments of conversation and reflection, and local artists and businesses are brought together in new and creative connections. This workshop explores recent projects as we examine large-scale public artworks as a means to promote the values of awareness, education, community, and reconciliation.
Panel includes:
Carrielynn Victor, mural artist
Judith Mosley, Executive Director, Vancouver Heritage Foundation
Wilco van Bemmel, CEO, Dunefield
Adrian Sinclair, Director of Engagement, Vancouver Mural Festival
Recognizing Places that are not Places
That may sound like an oxymoron, but not all places of importance can actually meet the criteria for ‘official’ recognition as laid out in our province’s legislation. These include water vessels, trains, and other types of rolling stock. Some vessels, like the S.S. Moyie, a national historic site, obtain recognition by literally moving to higher ground. But, anchoring to the ground is not always possible or desirable for these types of artefacts. In this workshop, we explore the significance and value of the ‘places that are not places’, their contributions to BC’s history, and the ways we can recognize other forms of heritage.
Panel includes:
Robert Allan, principal, Robert Allan Ltd.
John MacFarlane, co-director, The Nauticapedia Project
Katherine Carlson, Executive Director, Central BC Railway & Forestry Museum
Ray Ramey, President, Atchelitz Threshermen's Association
Jennifer Dunkerson, Heritage BC Heritage Planner, Columbia Basin Region
Cultural Landscapes and Resilience: Moving from Threat to Opportunity
Climate change is a significant threat to the sustainability of cultural landscapes all over the world. With each year, the urgency increases for the heritage sector to face the challenges posed by climate change, and to develop and adopt mitigation strategies and bolder planning for the protection of our heritage assets utilizing the inherent sustainability of cultural landscapes. In this session, the panel explores approaches and case studies to promote enhanced conservation practices and increased preparedness that will contribute to the future wellbeing of our natural and cultural heritage.
Jennifer Botica, Principal, Kleanza Consulting Ltd.
Richard Linzey, Director, Heritage Branch, Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development
Wilco van Bemmel, CEO, Dunefield
Gaining Community and Political Buy-In
What do you do when your next great project/idea gains no traction? How do you improve understanding and support from local organizations, government, and your community at large? How do you argue a case for new infrastructure and space that will support creatives? Join this round table with Amanda Shatzko, an elected politician and arts and culture nonprofit leader who works at the intersection of business, government, and society. Here she will review a case study from a recent Okanagan Cultural Centre referendum, and discuss important information that funding, and policy decision-makers want to hear. Provide you with hand-outs full of resources to help with your next pitch, and concepts to attract support. Amanda will guide us through sharing some of our successes and failures, discovering our common-threads, and helping us to leave with actionable steps.
Amanda Shatzko, Vice Chair, Electoral Area "C", Director, Regional District of the North Okanagan, BC
Consultants • Planners and Local Governments • NFP Organizations
Networking, conversation and food - the perfect way to start a day. We will provide the breakfasts and the space. You bring your appetites and your favourite conversation topics.
Complimentary breakfasts will be provided on Friday and Saturday mornings. We will designate three conversation areas for consultants, planners and local governments and not-for-profit organizations. Join any group or start your own conversation table.
All times, programs and speakers are subject to change at any time.
BC Association of Heritage Professionals (BCAHP) mixer (May 8, 4:00pm)
Whether you are a professional member of BCAHP, a professional in the heritage field or simply a heritage buff
Come for a peer get together organized by BCAHP to hear and share issues that heritage professionals on the ground are facing and accomplishing in BC and Yukon. This is a great opportunity for those interested in joining the heritage conservation field or in joining BCAHP, to learn, ask questions, find mentors and peers.
Annual General Meeting (Dogwood Heritage Society of BC, dba Heritage BC)
The AGM will be held on Friday, May 8 at 6:00pm. Business will include a management report, presentation of financial statements, and nominations for the board of directors.
Please visit Annual General Meeting 2020 for more information.