Archaeology

Reference Material

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• Archaeological Heritage Policy Framework
  This statement deals with the importance of archaeological resources, the shared responsibility and comprehensive approach to managing these resources, the use of existing measures and special needs for the protection of archaeological resources and their sound management in Canada.
  
  
• Guidelines for the Management of Archaeological Resources
  These guidelines present Parks Canada's aproach to archaeological resource management as a component of cultural resource management and employ the relevant principles and practices of the Cultural Resource Management Policy (CRM Policy)
  
  
• Archaeological Recording Manual: Excavations and Surveys
  This manual outlines the Parks Canada Agency recording system for archaeological excavations and surveys as well as the principles, best practices and procedures to be followed by anyone conducting archaeological research on properties administered by Parks Canada or under a Parks Canada permit.
  
  
• Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada (Printable Version, PDF, 5.1Mb)

This pan-Canadian conservation manual, originally published in 2003, is the first reference document of its kind developed in the country. It offers results-oriented guidance for sound decision making when planning for and using historical places as well as making suitable site interventions. The standards and guidelines are the result of a major collaborative effort among federal, provincial and territorial governments, heritage conservation professionals and heritage developers.


• Draft new Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Archaeological Sites
  In anticipation of the next edition of the document planned for the end of 2009, a working group lead by Parks Canada in the context of the Historic Places Initiative has been working since 2004 toat updateing the gGuidelines for aArchaeological sSites. The result of this work isare the draft Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Archaeological Sites. These standards and guidelines reflect the great diversity of experiences in the conservation of archaeological sites conservation in Canada and aim to provide concrete guidance on the preservation, development exhibition and integration of archaeological heritage. This draft is currently being used in pilot projects to test the direction taken in the document. confirm the guidance recommended in the document. Once finalized, this latest draft will become part of the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada.
  
  We invite you to have a look at the new Draft Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Archaeological Sites that are available on the Canada’s Historic Places’ website.
  
  
• Criteria and Guidelines for the Designation of National Historic Sites, People and Events
  The Historic Sites and Monuments Board’s Criteria and Guidelines for the Designation of National Historic Sites, People and Events outline the criteria and general and specific guidelines for a place, a person or an event to be nominated by the Board and designated by the Minister of the Environment. While the Minister can designate any aspect of Canada's human history as having national historic significance, the place, person or event will be so designated only if it had a significant impact on Canadian history or is a significant illustration of Canadian human history.
  
  
• Guidelines for Evaluating Shipwrecks of National Historic Significance in Canada
  Parks Canada’s Guidelines for Evaluating Shipwrecks of National Historic Significance in Canada are intended for anyone seeking the necessary tools to evaluate shipwrecks of national historic significance. Because of the status of shipwrecks as archaeological sites, movable cultural property or property with market value under the Canada Shiping Act, these guidelines help ensure that future submissions to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board will be treated uniformly and that recommendations will be well documented.
  
  
• An Approach to Aboriginal Cultural Landscapes
  Parks Canada’s web publication An Aproach to Aboriginal Cultural Landscapes provides a framework for reconcilingaround which the traditional values of Aboriginal peoples and the typicallyly Western aproach to -based historical scholarship of the Historical Sites and Monuments Board. can meet. This framework, which includesProviding definitions and guidelines, this aproach has been adopted by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board as a way to to evaluatee the nomination of Aboriginal cultural landscapes as nNational hHistoric sSites in a manner that is ways that are meaningful to both Aboriginal people and the general Canadian population at large.
  
  
• Unearthing the Law: Archaeological Legislation on Lands in Canada
  Safeguarding and protecting archaeological sites is required by law in Canada. At all levels of government (provincial, territorial and federal), laws have been created that deal directly and indirectly with archaeology and archaeological resources. The various laws related to archaeological sites apply not only to the physical evidence of past human activities that are found in the ground and under the water but also to those on and above the ground such as the old sculptures or carvings in rocks or trees that have been found in British Columbia and Ontario. The laws require both governments and the private sector equally to plan for archaeology and to protect archaeological resources, whether they are discovered by accident or as part of a purposeful research effort.
  
  
• Cultural Resource Management Policy
  Parks Canada’s responsibility to manage national parks, national heritage sites and national marine conservation areas makes it one of the principal cultural resource management organizations in Canada. Parks Canada’s Cultural Resource Management Policy — an important part of its Parks Canada Guiding Principles and Operational Policies — outlines the need for an integrated and comprehensive approach to the management of cultural resources, distinguishable from other resources because of historical value assigned to them.
  
  
• Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA)
  
  The CEAA requires projects that take place on federal lands to carry out an environmental assessment in order to avoid or minimize adverse environmental effects and to incorporate environmental factors into the decision-making process.
  
  The Act aplies to projects where the Government of Canada has decision-making authority — whether as the instigator, land manager, funding source or regulator.
  
  
  

Public Consultations on Heritage Wrecks

Canada is about to have a new law governing shiping and navigation, the Canada Shiping Act, 2001. (CSA 2001). The CSA 2001 will come into force when its regulations have been developed and published in Part II of the Canada Gazette, probably in 2009. The CSA 2001 addresses for the first time matters dealing with heritage shipwrecks.

Under CSA 2001, responsibility for the development and administration of regulations for the protection of heritage wrecks is shared. Transport Canada and Environment Canada, through the Parks Canada Agency, will be developing these regulations.

The federal government has presented a discussion paper on the regulations to be developed under the CSA 2001 for the protection of heritage wrecks to interested stakeholders such as the provinces and territories, dive groups, the Canadian Maritime Law Association and others.

A Roll-Up document, based on public consultations conducted during autumn 2004, is available online on the Transport Canada site.

For further Parks Canada references such as policies and directives, please consult the Archaeological Resource Management team. information@pc.gc.ca

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