Heritage Designation: A Resource Guide

Like the Community Heritage Register, heritage designation is an important component of a local government’s heritage program, as it is a recognized method to identify, acknowledge, record, and protect local heritage that has a particular value to the community.

Unlike the Community Heritage Register, designation has a more formal process that establishes the designation through the adoption of a bylaw. The heritage designation process helps the local government to understand and identify significant properties of enduring heritage value.

The goal of this guide is to support heritage designation through research, guidelines, and standards, and to address the challenges of interpretation and implementation. By understanding best practices and lessons learned, heritage designation can be successfully utilized by all local governments and regional districts.

Please note: this guide does not describe heritage conservation areas, which are a related form of designation, and it does not include references to the Heritage Conservation Act, which also describes heritage designation, but as established by the provincial government.