Federal-Provincial-Territorial Meeting of Ministers responsible for Culture and Heritage

OTTAWA, March 21, 2003 – The Federal-Provincial/Territorial Ministers responsible for Culture and Heritage today participated in a conference on culture and heritage jointly chaired by Minister of Canadian Heritage Sheila Copps and Minister of Tourism and Culture for Nova Scotia Rodney MacDonald.

The Ministers today issued a declaration on "Protecting Historic Places" and discussed the importance of Canada’s historic places and new initiatives that will recognize the value of historic places in Canada and encourage their conservation.

They will undertake activities that will encourage preservation of historic places through an historic places initiative. They will apply where appropriate to their jurisdictions, standards and guidelines for the conservation of historic places, create partnerships with the private sector and municipalities to help promote and protect historic sites, and foster greater participation by Canadians in the conservation of historic places. The Ministers also decided to take measures to highlight the important role played by historic places in Canadian society. They will also be working to negotiate bilateral agreements with the federal government on the initiative.

Meeting participants also supported an initiative to increase understanding and strengthen the ties between the culture and heritage sector and other stakeholders in the field of tourism. Ministers expressed their desire to initiate a dialogue with Federal-Provincial/Territorial Tourism Ministers on common objectives and how to achieve them. Quebec may agree to participate in this initiative once they have completed the work on its cultural tourism strategy

Ministers also spoke of the important contribution that arts and culture makes to individual and community health. They agreed to work further in this area.

The meeting included a presentation on the International Instrument on Cultural Diversity (IICD), and the provinces and territories were invited to participate in the seminar of hemispheric experts on drafting the IICD, to be held March 27 and 28, in Halifax. The governments of Quebec and Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador were commended for their leadership role on this topic.

The Ministers agreed to share information and identify practical ways to strengthen their cooperation in advancing Canada’s program of action on international cultural diversity, particularly with respect to promoting the Canadian approach to cultural diversity and sharing Canada’s cultural expertise with developing and other countries.

Finally, the Ministers agreed that there was a need to explore further alternatives on cultural and sport infrastructure.

The next Federal – Provincial and Territorial Meeting of Ministers of Culture and Heritage will be held in Nova Scotia in 2004. 

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Information:

Sonya-Kim St-Julien
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage
(819) 997-7788

Kelly Deveaux
Nova Scotia Tourism and Culture
(902) 424-4207
e-mail: deveauxkr@gov.ns.ca