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Conserve Heritage Resources

Measuring Commemorative Integrity of National Historic Sites

The commemorative integrity of a national historic site is measured by small multi-functional teams composed of eight to ten people from the site, service centres and the national historic sites directorate (managers, historians, heritage presentation specialists), who complete evaluations of commemorative integrity over a one to three day period. The evaluation involves completing a detailed questionnaire based on the commemorative integrity statement for the site. The assessment focuses on:

• The condition of, and threats to, the resources in existing asset inventory systems, and any work completed since the last formal condition assessment, as well as the expertise of the evaluation team in assessing the overall condition of the site and threats to the resources.
  
  
• The effectiveness of communication, based on the content of the presentation program, the media used and its effectiveness, and audience understanding of the messages. The assessment draws on surveys of visitors’ understanding of key messages or local evaluations when these are available (see the Measuring Visitor Use, Satisfaction and Understanding: Parks Canada’s Visitor Information Program for more detail on the surveys), and expert judgement by the team on the quality and completeness of the presentation program.
  
  
• Whether management decisions and actions respect heritage values, is based on an assessment of the degree to which the site is managed according to Parks Canada’s Cultural Resource Management Policy. The site is assessed on the existence of complete inventories of its resources, whether the resources have been evaluated for their historical importance, the effectiveness of interventions, the existence of monitoring and review programs for the management of the resources, and whether adequate records are kept of decisions affecting the site. If appropriate management practices are in place, it is concluded that the site’s heritage values are being respected in the decisions and actions affecting the site.

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