Heritage Canada Foundation Advocacy Action / Introduction

www.advocacyaction.ca / www.advocacyaction.org

Welcome to the Advocacy Action Web Site of the Heritage Canada Foundation.

The Heritage Canada Foundation developed this site in order to provide information and advice on issues related to the preservation of historic structures and sites, and to encourage advocacy action in support of heritage conservation objectives. It is designed to equip the heritage community and the larger supportive public with the facts and arguments needed to make the case for the retention, restoration and reuse of our built heritage resources. In other words, an advocacy tool!

Over the course of the last three decades, Canada has lost a staggering amount of its built heritage resources, and this alarming attrition rate continues to make itself felt in all communities, large and small, across the country. There is a strong need, therefore, to engage Canadians as heritage advocates - - those employed professionally, volunteers working in the field and the concerned public in general - - and arm them with information and arguments to help halt the trend of destruction and encourage a culture of conservation.

This Web site is organized around four important aspects of heritage conservation today:

the economics of heritage preservation – showing that heritage pays,

heritage tourism – a fast growing phenomenon,

heritage preservation in the sustainable development context,

and the heritage workforce – a human resources issue.

These are shorthand versions that capture the essence of major Heritage Canada Foundation research reports and conference proceedings while demonstrating that heritage preservation not only makes sound historical and cultural sense, but sound economic, environmental, and employment sense as well.

The Heritage Canada Foundation acknowledges with gratitude the financial assistance of the Historic Places Program of the Parks Canada Agency which made the development of this site possible.