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Conserve Heritage Resources

Other Heritage Programs

The Canadian Heritage Rivers System (CHRS)

The Canadian Heritage Rivers System (CHRS) is a cooperative program of the Government of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories to give national recognition to Canada’s outstanding rivers and to ensure long-term management that will conserve their natural, cultural and recreational values for the benefit and enjoyment of Canadians, now and in the future (www.chrs.ca/). The Canadian Heritage Rivers Board, comprised of members appointed by the federal, provincial and territorial governments, manages the program.

Parks Canada directly supports the work of the Board by submitting recommendations to the Minister for designation of new heritage rivers and providing technical and financial assistance to provincial and territorial governments for the preparation of studies, as well as nomination and designation documents.

Becoming a Canadian Heritage River is a two-step process – nomination and designation. The Minister of the Environment and the provincial/territorial Minister of the nominating government must grant formal approval of both the nomination and designation. As of March 2007, forty rivers, totalling over 10,000 kilometres, have been nominated to the CHRS. Thirty-six of these rivers have been designated, meaning that management plans detailing how their heritage values will be recognized and protected have been lodged with the CHRS Board. Six of the designated rivers are in national parks or national historic sites.

• Alsek River, Kluane NP;
• South Nahanni River, Nahanni NPR;
• Athabasca River, Jasper NP;
• North Saskatchewan River, Banff NP;
• Kicking Horse River, Yoho NP;
• Rideau Waterway, Rideau Canal NHS

A jurisdiction that nominates a heritage river for designation must first receive approval for its management plan or strategy that describe how the river will be managed to conserve its outstanding values, within three years of the river being nominated. Once the river has been designated, the managing jurisdiction must then submit an annual report to the Canadian Heritage Rivers System Board including checklists showing where positive or negative changes to the river’s heritage values have occurred. Jurisdictions must also table a Ten Year Monitoring Report with the Board, detailing changes in the condition of river or integrity values, as well as activities that could potentially affect river values, and how these impacts are being or will be mitigated. The number of rivers compliant with the various reporting processes is shown in Table 22.

Table 22: Number of Heritage Rivers Compliant with Reporting Requirements

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