{"id":49850,"date":"2021-04-02T13:31:03","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T17:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=49850"},"modified":"2021-04-02T13:31:03","modified_gmt":"2021-04-02T17:31:03","slug":"city-council-urges-federal-government-to-strengthen-protection-of-national-historic-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/city-council-urges-federal-government-to-strengthen-protection-of-national-historic-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"City council urges federal government to strengthen protection of National Historic Sites"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ottawa city council carried a motion for Mayor Jim Watson to write a letter to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, urging for the strengthening of National Historic Sites.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spearheaded by Coun. Mathieu Fleury and seconded by Coun. Catherine McKenney, the motion came after multiple discussions and calls from organizations and was unanimously carried on Feb. 24, 2021.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recurring discussions over the years for the plans to build on Chateau Laurier underscored the lack of power the government had in protecting the site.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The building\u2019s owner returned with multiple revised plans for a new addition to the historic structure to meet the demands made by the city council.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe looked at all of the provisions and authorities relating to that and felt that they were failing us a bit, they were falling short,\u201d says Fleury.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCouncil certainly on that point agrees that National Historic Sites do need proper protection and proper oversight by the government who named it a national site,\u201d he adds.<\/span><\/p>\n

There were six different renditions of the Chateau Laurier addition plan remade to meet the approval of the city, National Capital Commission and Parks Canada after being granted a heritage permit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Under the National Capital Commission, the federal government felt that Chateau Laurier was important enough to design guidelines for any possible additions to it according to David Flemming, former president of Heritage Ottawa.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf [it\u2019s] important enough to be designated as part of our cultural history there should be some protection,\u201d Flemming says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the additions were proposed they just felt that they couldn\u2019t intervene and that it was a municipal affair so they just bailed on it which was unfortunate,\u201d he adds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Flemming says when a National Historic Site is owned by someone other than the government the federal government has no control over it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, National Historic Sites are nationally identified\u2026 but there doesn\u2019t appear to be oversight or any keep to that important designation,\u201d says Fleury.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are about 740 National Historic Sites in Canada with about one-third being owned by the government, according to Fleury.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo we have about 500 of those sights across Canada nationally protected, but there\u2019s no oversight, no approval regime for what they need or if there are changes to those properties, and that has significant impacts,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fleury says he does not doubt that the publicly-owned sites are properly maintained, safeguarded or invested in.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI question those that are in the private sphere, and this is an example of that,\u201d he says of the Chateau Laurier discussions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Mayor\u2019s letter to Minister Jonathan Wilkinson was sent on March 1. It outlined the city council\u2019s resolution to strengthen the protection of National Historic Sites.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fleury says this is an important consideration for the Minister as they\u2019re responsible for Parks Canada which carries the importance of \u201cwhere we\u2019ve come from as a country and where we\u2019re going.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to abandon those nationally renowned sites who have a range of local interest but they also have a national interest as well,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Heritage Ottawa has sent letters to ministers over the years to advocate for the National Historic Sites which have not been met with their requested federal and legislative protections.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn all the efforts that the federal government\u2019s put into national parks they\u2019ve sort of ignored historic parks,\u201d says Flemming.<\/span><\/p>\n

He believes this issue isn\u2019t a priority for the government and they lack the political will to take action.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI mean they haven\u2019t done it up to now, it\u2019s been an obvious oversight. We\u2019ve been bugging them for years about it, they just haven\u2019t moved on it,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

The city has not heard anything yet since sending the mayor\u2019s letter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fleury says the protection of National Historic Sites is central to his role as a representative and elected official in Ottawa.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWherever you go in the world, the history of that region, that country, reflects the identity of residents who are there today,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThose sites are of national importance and need to be protected for generations to come to speak of our history as a country and to showcase the evolution as well of not only the architecture but the meaning of what happened in those buildings of national significance,\" he adds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is coun. Mathieu Fleury and David Flemming speaking with CHUO:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ottawa city council carried a motion for Mayor Jim Watson to write a letter to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, urging for the strengthening of National Historic Sites. Spearheaded by Coun. Mathieu Fleury and seconded by Coun. Catherine McKenney, the motion came after multiple discussions and calls from organizations and was unanimously carried…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":49854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57,219],"tags":[7755,7754,7756,7757,7758,7753,1177,411],"radio":[1290],"origine":[267,269,1571],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49850"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49850"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=49850"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=49850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}