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Heritage BC
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  • About

    About

    • What We Do
    • Membership
    • Our Advocacy
    • Newsletter
    • Donate
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff
    • Plans and Reports
    • Sponsors
  • Events & Activities

    Events & Activities

    • Heritage BC Conference 2023
    • BC Heritage Awards
    • Heritage Week 2023
    • Dates to Know
  • Learning Centre

    Learning Centre

    • Heritage 101
    • Advocacy
    • Accessibility for Historic Places
    • Climate & Sustainability
    • Heritage Place Conservation
    • Heritage Policy & Legislation
    • Homeowners
    • Intangible Cultural Heritage
    • Non-For-Profit Organizations
    • Reconciliation
    • Webinars On-Demand
  • Cultural Maps

    Cultural Maps

    • Mapping Heritage
    • Submerged Heritage Resources
    • Columbia Basin Region Heritage Places
    • Francophone Historic Places Map
    • Chinese Canadian Historic Places Map
    • Japanese Canadian Historic Places
    • South Asian Canadian Map
    • War Monuments and Memorials Map
  • Funding

    Funding

    • Heritage Legacy Fund
    • Government Funded Grants
    • Climate Disaster Response Fund
    • Funding Opportunities
    • Additional Funding Resources
    • Grant Writing Webinar
  • News
  • Professional Development

    Professional Development

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    • Submit a Job
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    • Annual Conference
    • Professional Organizations
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  • Heritage 101
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    • A Guide to Making a Case for Heritage
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    • Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Resource Guide
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    • Organizational Capacity Building
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    • A Compendium of Tips and Information for Governance, Management and NFP Operations
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    • Indigenous Cultural Heritage
    • Setting the Bar: A Reconciliation Guide for Heritage
      • 1. Heritage and Reconciliation Pledge
      • 2. Acknowledging Land and People
      • 3. Celebrating Days of Recognition and Commemoration
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      • 6. Mission-Making Room for Reconciliation
      • 7. Possession, Interpretation, Repatriation and Cultural Care
      • 8. Shared Decision Making
      • 9. Statements of Significance and other heritage planning documents
      • 10. Heritage Conservation Tools, Local Government Act
    • Racism: Do Not Let the Forgetting Prevail
      • Erasure 2.0: Gatekeepers
      • Why should we remember?  The legacy of remembrance
      • Racism is like an addiction
      • Black Lives Do Matter
      • The Powerful Position of Learning
      • Beyond Acknowledgement to Diversity and Inclusion
      • Erasure: A Statement on Racism, Inclusivity and Equity
      • Taking Action: resources for diversity and inclusion
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  • Community Heritage Commissions: A Resource Guide

Community Heritage Commissions: Overview

Heritage Conservation: A Community Guide was written in 1995 in response to the adoption of the then new Local Government Act, which provided new heritage conservation stewardship opportunities to local governments.

About the community heritage commission (CHC), this document says, “[It] is intended to assist a council or regional district board with the management and implementation of community heritage conservation planning and activities… including the ability to undertake support activities and/or to take on other non-regulatory activities delegated to it by a council or regional district board. A community heritage commission may:

  • advise local government on matters included in the commission’s Terms of Reference,
  • advise local government on matters referred to it by local government, and/or
  • undertake or support heritage activities authorized by local government.”

This guide makes an important distinction between a CHC and a planning commission: while planning commissions will not typically consider heritage issues, heritage commissions will look at broader community planning issues so that heritage conservation is considered in a fuller context. It is for this reason the efforts of the two commissions should be coordinated.

It is worth mentioning another resource, Heritage Planning: A Guide for Local Government (1992), which provides information about the purpose of the heritage advisory committee, the predecessor to the CHC: “to advise on all matters relating to land use, community planning or the proposed bylaws and permits relating to them. The commission may advise on such matters as official community plans, zoning, development permits and subdivision and development requirements.”

Appointed by the local government council, CHC follows approved terms of reference to support the local government to manage and implement community heritage conservation planning and activities, which can relate to land use, community planning or the proposed bylaws, permits, official community plans, zoning, development permits and subdivision, and development requirements.

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As an organization of provincial scope, Heritage BC recognizes that its members, and the local history and heritage they seek to preserve, occupy the lands and territories of B.C.’s Indigenous peoples. Heritage BC asks its members and everyone working in the heritage sector to reflect on the places where they reside and work, and to respect the diversity of cultures and experiences that form the richness of our provincial heritage.