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Okay, deep breath…

There’s something else about churches…

We’ve been talking about churches — or more broadly, places of worship of all descriptions — and wondering how public policy should respond to the conservation dilemma they pose. But first we need to better understand their special circumstances.

The beautiful country churches we saw on the tour last time are not listed or designated under the Ontario Heritage Act (OHA). Interestingly, however, St. Patrick’s, Kinkora, is designated as one of seven “cultural heritage locations” under the County of Perth’s Official Plan.

Another Ontario heritage anniversary. Forty years ago, in 1975, Marion MacRae and Anthony Adamson published their groundbreaking Hallowed Walls: Church Architecture of Upper Canada.

When we looked at the need for policies to protect heritage property owned by the province, we saw that the demolition of the old lunatic asylum in Toronto in 1976 was perhaps a watershed moment (see “Policies for the protection of provincially-owned property (part one)”, from May 31, 2015).

How much of our heritage is in municipal ownership? Think about it — historic city/town halls, libraries, museums, parks, cemeteries (lots!), war memorials. Public Utility Commission (PUC) and like buildings. And most bridges. Don’t forget roads. What else?

This rambling “policy story” begins in my hometown of Milverton, Ontario, north of Stratford — on the edge, as I now like to say, of Alice Munro Country. And speaking of things literary, like many small and not-so-small towns Milverton has a Carnegie library.

First, before heading on down to the Lake Ontario waterfront, some context. My two previous posts tell the story of how Ontario ended up with a different protection regime for cultural heritage property in the hands of the Crown. Provincial standards and guidelines, developed and made mandatory under Part III.1 of the Ontario Heritage Act, now apply to all provincial ministries, as well as to other “public bodies” prescribed in regulation. To keep things clear, the designation regime under Parts IV and V of the Act does not apply to these public owners.

As we saw last time, the 1975 Ontario Heritage Act made no provision for the protection of provincially owned heritage property. Bilateral agreements had been struck between the culture ministry and a few of the main property-owning ministries and, later, the Crown agency that was created to manage much of the government’s property — the Ontario Realty Corporation. But these arrangements were limited in their scope and certainly in their clout.