Conference 2024 – Program
**Please note that the sessions, presenters and times below are subject to change**
Wednesday, May 1st
| 8:00 – 16:00 | Registration Desk Open at Nelson Prestige Lakeside Resort |
| 9:00 – 17:30 |
Field Trip: Silvery Slocan Bus Tour ($59.00) |
| On this full day field trip join local historian, Greg Nesteroff, on a tour of significant heritage sites around the Central Kootenays. Including interpretation provided by the Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre, the SS Moyie, and the Lower Kootenay Band at Kootenay Lake. Learn about the communities and heritage that makes this region unique. Lunch included. Pre-registration is required for this tour. |
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13:00 – 18:00 |
Field Trip: Columbia Waterways Bus Tour: When the River Speaks ($25.00) |
| The trip will visit sites along the Columbia River. Join to learn about the history of dams in the various communities who call the land home. Through this tour, delegates will explore how facing difficult histories supports relationship building, and allows us to move forward with a clarity that comes from understanding the truths of our shared history. Stops include interpretation at Brilliant Dam, Slocan Pools and the Doukhobor Suspension Bridge. Light snacks will be served. Pre-registration is required for this tour. 
Thank you to Columbia Power for sponsoring this field trip.
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| 14:00 – 15:30 |
Field Trip: Cottonwood Falls Garden Walking Tour (Free) |
| Take part in a tour of a significant park, in both Nelson’s past and present. Follow a guide from the Nelson Izu-Shi Friendship Society, who support the stewardship of the park, and through your visit learn about the history of the many diverse communities who made Nelson the place that it is today. Pre-registration is required for this tour. |
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| 19:00 – 21:00 | Opening Reception at Nelson & District Chamber Of Commerce |
We are hosting our opening reception with light food and drinks at the historic CPR Station in Nelson, lovingly restored by the Nelson & District Chamber of Commerce. Come along to catch up with friends and colleagues from across the province. Tours of the restored station will be available for those who are interested in the project.
Thank you to City of Nelson for sponsoring this event.
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Thursday, May 2nd
| 8:00 – 8:30 | Catered Breakfast | Registration Desk Open |
| 8:30 – 9:00 | Opening Remarks |
| 9:00 – 10:00 |
Keynote Speech: Training the Human Lens on Heritage |
| If history is a collection of memories, then the memories that we share become the stories of our communities. These stories shape our culture, identity and heritage. In our opening plenary, award-winning Nelson-based filmmaker Amy Bohigian invites you to consider who gets space in conversations about how we remember the past and envision our future, asking the question, “How are our communities concerned with including the missing voices?”. Through the lens of her work as a filmmaker, Amy explores why it is important to tell these untold stories, and shares how an inclusive and collaborative approach to storytelling works to reflect, enrich, and even rewrite the narrative of a community. | |
View PresentersAmy Bohigian, MEd, Director/Producer, Watershed Productions Inc. |
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| 10:30 – 12:00 | Concurrent Sessions |
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Telling Our Own Stories |
| Who is given the opportunity to tell their own stories in your communities? This panel brings together Dr. Melissa Lee from the Chinese Canadian Museum, Charlie Cook from the Museum of North Vancouver, and Shayna Jones, originator of the project, Black and Rural, to discuss how they are taking control of their own narratives to tell their stories. Learn about their projects, and see how taking control of the narrative can transform one’s sense of community identity, for both the storytellers, but also for learners outside of those communities. | |
View PresentersDr. Melissa Karmen Lee, Chief Executive Officer, Chinese Canadian Museum |
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Place Names and the History of the Land |
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| Recognizing Indigenous place names is one key way to implement the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The session will highlight different initiatives across BC that are doing this work. Presentations will share how place name recognition fosters the understanding of the deep histories of the land and support the revitalization of Indigenous languages and cultures. | |
View PresentersTrent Thomas, Provincial Toponymist, BC Geographical Names Office, Heritage Branch |
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Heritage Conservation in a Housing Crisis: Adaptations and Opportunities for Neighbourhoods |
| As adequate housing supply and affordability continues to be one of the biggest challenges that communities across the province face, Heritage finds itself at a crossroads. Positioning Heritage as one of the players that offer a range of solutions in the housing crisis is an opportunity to demonstrate the sector’s relevance in the face of society-wide challenges. But, how can we do this? Join our panelists for a conversation that asks you to imagine how Heritage can help contribute to our neighbourhoods’ density, diversity, vitality and uniqueness, creating long term sustainability. | |
View PresentersEmily Guy, MA, Research & Policy Lead, TRACE architectures |
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| 12:00 – 13:00 | Catered Lunch | Sponsored by The British Columbia Association of Heritage Professionals |
| 13:00 – 14:30 | Concurrent Sessions |
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Craftsmanship: Building Heritage and Training the Next Generation |
| Craftspeople prove in their daily practice that tangible and intangible heritage are deeply connected. Without their knowledge, our tangible heritage would be lost for future generations. In this panel, join our skilled presenters to hear them share about their craft, the cultural importance of their work, and what steps they are taking to pass down this knowledge to future generations. | |
View PresentersShawn Brigman, PhD, Salishan Sturgeon Nose Canoes (est. 2013) |
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Tools for Heritage Recognition: Centering Community Values |
| For decades, heritage processes in BC have centered on the development of lists or registers to recognize significant heritage places in our communities. While heritage values have evolved, registers remain one of the key tools available to communities interested in documenting heritage that matters to them. In this session, our presenters share their projects that activate and move beyond the listed Heritage Registry, showcasing the Provincial Heritage Branch’s new public-facing Provincial Register and the Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s Places That Matter Community History Resource website. The session will conclude with a discussion about your motivations for seeking heritage recognition, and brainstorming additional ways that your community can achieve your heritage recognition goals. | |
View PresentersJessica Quan, BA, BEd, Community Engagement Manager, Vancouver Heritage Foundation
Thank you to the BC Heritage Branch for sponsoring this session. |
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Workshop: Adaptive Re-Use for a Local Context |
| For this session participants will visit 444 Baker Street, a former hardware store. The tour will offer an in-depth look at how adaptive re-use was applied in this local context and discover how such projects align with community culture and values. | |
View PresentersRiya Garg, Designer, f2a architecture |
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| 15:00 – 16:30 | Concurrent Sessions |
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People First Archaeology: Truth Telling through the History of the Land |
| This session offers an example of how integrating multiple ways of knowing can help us understand the full truth of our histories. Join Sinixt speakers as they share how archaeology, oral history, ecology and more are being used together to re-write the narrative pushed by the Canadian Government in 1956, when they declared the Sinixt extinct. | |
View PresentersRemey LaCombe, Archaeologist, ColVille Confederated Tribes |
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Workshop – Non-Profit Fund Development: Building Our Relationships for a New Way Forward |
| One of the most widely experienced struggles for heritage and cultural organizations is financial stability. Transactional relationships, repetitive processes, and navigating bureaucratic granting systems all pose challenges to meeting the goals of your organization leading to scarcity mindsets and staff burnout. This session will explore how heritage and cultural organizations can work together through centering relationships, leading with values, and remaining open to new ways to approach the work for greatest impact. The session will conclude with an activity that encourages you to think about your network through a mindset of abundance and with a call to action to take into your own work. | |
View PresentersEmily Cabrera, Lead, Partnership Development, First Peoples’ Cultural Foundation |
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| 19:00 – 22:00 | Awards Reception and Ceremony at the Capitol Theatre in Nelson |
| Join friends and colleagues to celebrate the 2024 Heritage BC award winners at the beautiful Capitol Theatre in downtown Nelson. Before the awards ceremony, mingle and catch-up with your peers, then come together in the restored theatre for the award announcements. There will be appetizers and a cash bar available. Thank you to our friends at The Capitol Theatre for generously hosting this event. 
Thank you to Equitable Real Estate for sponsoring this event. |
Friday, May 3rd
| 8:00 – 8:30 | Catered Breakfast |
| 8:30 – 10:00 |
Plenary Panel: Prioritizing Ourselves – Approaches to mental health when working in heritage |
| Across the province, heritage practitioners and advocates are experiencing a wide range of reactions to our efforts to be more truthful and inclusive in heritage interpretation and decision-making. In this panel, our speakers reflect on their experiences working in heritage as these ongoing changes take place in the sector. They will answer the questions: How are shifting perspectives on reconciliation, inclusion, and telling the whole truth of our histories resulting in mental health pressures for those who are working in the sector? And how can we navigate this and protect ourselves while staying true to the values of this work? | |
View PresentersLesley Garlow, Decolonization & Social Justice Lead, Nelson Museum, Archive & Gallery |
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| 10:30 – 12:00 | Networking Event (Roundtables) |
| Join your colleagues for a new take on Heritage BC’s tradition of peer roundtables. Reflect and brainstorm with colleagues about how you approach heritage in your home community, and what prioritizing people could look like in practice. | |
| 12:00 – 13:00 | Catered Lunch | Sponsored by Continuing Studies at University of Victoria |
| 13:00 – 14:30 | Concurrent Sessions |
Uncovered and Undaunted: the perils and rewards of integrating BC’s forgotten heritage |
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| What happens when an aspirational heritage touring route project challenges accepted norms and stirs controversy? As valleys behind the Treaty dams filled with water, surrounding communities and ecosystems struggled to adapt. Case study: the Columbia River Treaty Uncovery Tour panel will explore real-life challenges in conflicting values, agendas and interests. As the B.C. heritage community strives to embrace values of diversity and inclusion and to participate in cultural reconciliation with Indigenous cultures, how can planners and design teams navigate complex situations constructively? | |
View PresentersColumbia River Treaty Uncovery Tour Design Team: |
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Workshop: Heritage Approaches to Implementing the TRC Calls to Action in Your Municipality |
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| Nearly a decade after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report was published, municipalities across the country are still encountering barriers and challenges to implementing the 94 Calls to Action. This workshop encourages delegates to approach the TRC Calls to Action from a heritage perspective. Based on the Women Transforming Cities Report, the workshop will address barriers, explore what local government leaders need in order to accelerate action, and empower you to make meaningful progress towards truth-telling and reconciliation. | |
View PresentersAsh Peplow Ball, Executive Director, Women Transforming Cities |
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For the Community – Transforming Heritage Buildings for People |
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| Heritage advocates have long articulated the value that heritage buildings bring to our communities. Historic places like sites of worship or civic buildings help tell the history of what our communities valued historically. This session looks to the future, asking what are the new layers of history and heritage that we are adding to the older buildings in our community. Join our presenters to see how organizations in the Kootenays are taking older buildings with historic significance and connecting them with their present-day communities through creative transformations and updates that are outside the site’s original use. | |
View PresentersIlona Spaar, PhD, President, Swiss Edelweiss Village Foundation |
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| 15:00 – 16:30 | Concurrent Sessions |
Tour: Preparing for a Climate Emergency |
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| As climate emergencies grow more and more common across the province, owners and managers of heritage resources are making a wide array of decisions to protect them from harm. Presenters offer an overview of mitigation and risk management tools available to communities in BC. Then, bringing prevention to your own backyard, delegates will take a tour of a local neighbourhood to learn about the various environmental threats that heritage buildings can face. Learn about actions you can take to prevent the loss of valued places in your community. | |
View PresentersRhiannon Barber, MCIP, RPP, MPlan, PGDipGIS, Senior Policy Analyst, Ministry of Emergency Management & Climate Readiness – Disaster Mitigation & Adaptation Branch |
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Language Revitalization and Technology: Tools for Empowering Communities |
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| With 2022-2032 declared as the Decade of Indigenous Languages, language is becoming internationally recognized for the pivotal role that it plays in cultural revitalization and heritage stewardship. At the same time, digital technology has become an emerging tool to connect with language learners across generations. Both a barrier to entry and a democratizing form of access, this session explores the impact of technology on this important work. Join Dr. Christopher Horsethief, Stevey Seymour, Justin Davis and Thomas Whitton for a dialogue about their experiences in leveraging technology for language revitalization in their communities. | |
View PresentersDr. Christopher Horsethief, Ktunaxa Nation |
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Managing Heritage Sites: Getting Creative about Maintenance, Staffing, and More |
| Three case studies explore how managers of heritage sites in BC are navigating the unique challenges of their role. From staffing to deferred maintenance to managing expectations from the public, each example offers creative solutions and ideas for delegates. A final discussion amongst presenters gives delegates a chance to troubleshoot challenges they face at their own places of work. | |
View PresentersJohn Hughes, Director, Craigdarroch Castle
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| 19:00 – 21:00 | Closing Reception at the Nelson Museum, Gallery & Archive |
| Come together at the end of the conference in the Nelson Museum, Archives and Gallery for appetizers and drinks with your fellow delegates. The museum will be offering free tours of the Nelson Cold War Bunker, and delegates can tour their new exhibit, VisuAlchemy, the culmination of Nelson-based artist, Judy Wapp’s prolific career. The Nelson Museum, Gallery & Archive is a host partner for the Heritage BC Conference. |