What can Heritage do for Prince George?
Does it have a role to play in "difficult times"?
Welcome to the NORTHERN HERITAGE Newsletter #3 and thank you for joining our journey of discovery into the heritage of Prince George and Northern BC.
Celebration of Lights held at the Central B.C. Railway and Forestry Museum (Citizen file photo)
Is Heritage relevant in times of political and economic stress?
When money is tight and demands are high, both the community and city government re-think their priorities. This is when “heritage and culture” are shuffled further and further down the pile - seen as luxuries at a time when luxuries can’t be afforded. This may be an understandable reaction, but I want to make the case that — far from being a luxury — these are the times when Heritage has so much to contribute.
In general we think of the heritage profession focusing on saving old buildings and filling museums. This may have been the case in the past, but for decades heritage professionals, academics and global organizations have been laser fixated on the relevance of heritage in our modern, globalized and often precarious world. Probably the hottest topics at the moment are heritage’s valuable role in addressing global hunger and post-conflict recovery, supporting sustainability and climate resilience, indigenous approaches to preservation of biodiversity, traditional responses to water management, inclusive heritage spaces for everyday social interaction, and heritage and public health.
These are not luxury issues!
What can heritage offer Prince George and the North?
Prince George’s Official Community Plan, currently being revised, highlights the importance of identifying and legally protecting heritage resources. Now we need to go beyond this to identify ways that heritage can be used to benefit residents of the North - we need to “adopt a general policy which aims to give the cultural and natural heritage a function in the life of the community” (World Heritage Convention Article 5).
Heritage has been shown to benefit communities in many ways; here are just a few:
Heritage boosts your health and wellbeing - Historic England has published new research which shows that the overall wellbeing value for people’s day-to-day encounters with heritage is estimated to be worth £29 billion every year in England. What do you think it could be worth to increase the frequency and quality of peoples’ interactions with heritage in Prince George?
Culture is the embodiment of the manifold customs, beliefs, and ways of doing that define human societies. Its core is knowledge, its legacy heritage. Culture and cultural heritage are therefore fundamental determinants of what makes life meaningful. (ICCROM Heritage and Wellbeing: what constitutes a Good Life?)
Heritage “Bonds and Bridges” - Interacting with all kinds of heritage and learning more about it means we spend more time with new people we might otherwise never meet. Shared heritage spaces are focal points where everyday interactions develop into “social capital” - those intangible networks that bind us together and enable us to achieve things as a group that we couldn’t as individuals - that “bond’ us together and “bridge” the gaps between us.
Sharing snacks at the Guru Nanak Darbar Sikh Society of Prince George Nagar Kirtan - Vaisakhi Parade (Citizen Photo by James Doyle May 21, 2016 James Doyle)
Heritage inspires creativity, innovation and entrepreneurs - I know I may be a newcomer, but it seems to me that there is a fantastic increase in heritage awareness/interest/activity in Prince George and Northern BC. If you love heritage then just looking at this little sample of Prince George creativity will make you smile!
Heritage painting by Larry Merrit - part of an award winning series capturing the vanishing past
Join the Train Lady for rail adventures into the region’s past!
Recognition of the photographer that captured Prince George history in the making at the Jeanne Clark Local History Awards
Huble Homestead’s support of the annual Prince George Regional Heritage Fair — highlighting heritage research by school kids
If you are interested in reading more about the role culture and heritage plays in framing and improving our contemporary world then please have a look at the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Kickstarting some action
How about these ideas for projects that could make a difference? Have a look, think about them and please give me your feedback and ideas of your own!
Recording and Mapping View lines, Vistas and Setting
You may think I’m crazy, but there are occasions in Prince George when turning the corner or coming over the hill a view spreads out in front of me that makes me catch my breath and reminds me of much more famous but similar moments. The sight of the Acropolis appearing above the snarled Athens traffic or the first glimpse of Mount Everest as you drive east from Kathmandu.
View of the CNN Rail Bridge from LC Gunn Park
Vistas bring home to us, in a dramatic fashion, how we are embedded in a place where generations from multiple cultures have lived their lives before us. The view line heritage of Prince George reinforces our sense of belonging to a small community set in the grandeur of rivers, mountains, skies and cutbacks.
Do you agree? Do these marvelous view lines need to be mapped, protected and shared?
Using Heritage as Shared Spaces and Community Hubs
Concert at Lheidli T’enneh Park, Move Up Prince George, (N. Giede)
Where are the places that you love to gather with friends, family, members of the community? in the beautiful summer months and in the icy winter? Picnic tables at Lheidli T’enneh Park, Knox Performance Centre, the Roll-a-Dome, Cottonwood Island trails, the Mall or McDonalds Playplace? Are there faith or cultural centers that act as shared spaces and meeting places for your ethnic community?
If we agree that “heritage places” are all those places that have meaning and value to us individually and as a community, then the list can be long and varied!
Supporting a Food and Foraging Heritage network of Local Entrepreneurs
North Waters Wildcraft stall at the Winterfest 2024
There is a burgeoning movement in the North of small independent entrepreneurial ventures like North Waters Wildcraft and Moose and Mushrooms and Mud - devoted not only to selling traditional wild food, but also to teaching foraging and collecting skills, the use of traditional medicinal plants and taking people out into the wild to experience our natural and cultural heritage first hand.
How can we support them? Buy, participate and learn!
Creating a volunteer group — Friends of the PG Heritage Commission
If the Heritage Commission led the organization of a volunteer team to carry out research, documentation, outreach etc. would you be interested?
Something to do…
Come to the Library on February 19, meet members of the Prince George Heritage Commission (of which I am one) and join in the discussion about heritage and its role in the future of Prince George and the North!
Wise Words on Heritage
“Identities are formed in practice through ongoing interactions with others, with the land, with the past and with visions of the future.” (Policy Paper: Recognizing and Including Indigenous Cultural Heritage in BC, pg. 15)