Authenticity in Canadian Conservation Practice

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INTERAMERICAN SYMPOSIUM ON AUTHENTICITYIN THE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE

SAN ANTONIO,TEXAS,USA MARCH,1996

UNITED STATES NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON MONUMENTS AND SITES

COMIT NATIONAL DES ETATS UNIS DU CONSEIL INTERNATIONAL DES MONUMENTS ET DES SITES

ICOMOS Canada

Authenticity in Canadian conservation practice

The paper which follows is a composite perspective on authenticity issues in Canadian conservation. It

has been put together on the basis of contributions from many members of ICOMOS Canada, some

submitted by invitation, other "borrowed". Contributions used in preparation of this paper come from

Wayne Zelmer, Frank Rorvemaker (on the grain elevators of Saskatchewan), Susann Myers (on the

reconstruction of Louisbourg), Walter Jamieson, Fergus Maclaren (on tourism), Alain Lafrenidre (on

vernacular architecture and the City of Hul1), Susan Buggey (on cultursl landscapes), Christina Cameron

(on transportation corridors), Gordon Bennett (on commemorative integrity), Michel Bonnette (on

Quebec City and the restoration of Place Royale), Pierre LaRochelle (on I1e d, Orleans), Christiane

Lefebvre (on definitions), Andrew Powter (on St. George,s Church, Halifax, and on the Library of

Parliament), Dinu Bumbaru (on Montreal), Les Hurt and Jack Brink (on Head-Smashed-in-Buffalo Jump). I

have very much appreciated the substantial contributions each has made in preparation of this paper. I

regret I have not been able to use a11 of the excellent material supplied; as well I should note that I bear

a11 responsibility for the interpretation, use and organisation of their materials.

Where published papers and complete notes have been supplied, I have quoted from them, and cited

the author. Where only rough point-form notes have been supplied, these have been re-phrased for use

in the article with credit usually being l imited to use of the contributors' name.

H. Stovel, OAA, MRAIC President, ICOMOS Canada

December, 1995


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Introduction

The paper looks at how perceptions of authenticity (and therefore its utility in

conservation practice) have altered over the last three decades in Canada. The paper

develops this theme by looking at the treatment of authenticity questions within a

number of sites of heritage significance, important in defining Canadian cultural

identity. The treatment of the subject is necessarily limited, both by the small

number of heritage sites examined and by the author's personal biases and

experiences.

Authenticity is a measure of the essential truth of the values or messages

communicated by cultural heritage as perceived by those in contact with them. As

such, shifts in perception of authenticity reflect shifts in focus among professionals

and the public in defining significant messages and their related heritage values.

Authenticity, following the lines of argument developed in the Bergen and Nara

authenticity meetings, is also understood through the attributes of cultural heritage,

since messages or values, as such, are not palpable: they cannot themselves be

touched or viewed or experienced. Authenticity analysis for any particular site

demands first identification of the particular attributes that support or carry those

values, and secondly, an assessment of the degree of truth, or genuineness, or

completeness attached to these.

Authenticity has been expressed as a goal consistently throughout the development

of conservation practice in Canada over the last 25 years. However, the objectives

lying behind use of the word are as varied as the perceived values it has been desired

to protect and enhance through conservation.


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Canada, like all of the New World American states illustrates the efforts of

transplanted, mostly-European cultural groups to subjugate the largely wilderness

lands and native peoples they found, over the last several centuries. As well, even

though identifiable heritage conservation practices may be described going back a

century or more in almost all of these countries, most of the significant growth in

conservation theory, practice and capacity has taken place in the last thirty years -

within the life of ICOMOS. An examination of shifting perceptions regarding heritage

values in Canada and accompanying shifts in perceptions of

"authentic" both illuminate some significant shared developmental trends and issues

within the Americas, and the defining characteristics that characterize evolving

Canadian approaches to conservation.

Authenticity and accuracy: early reconstructions and restorations

"Authenticity" was very much a touchstone in my first encounters in the late 1970s

with serious conservation practice in Canada. Having just spent two years studying

conservation in Edinburgh (in 1976- 1977, under Colin McWilliam, of Heriot-Watt

University), I had been imbued with a form of what Michael Petzet of ICOMOS

Germany has called "material fetishism" - reverence for the artefact as the single

legitimate transmitter of heritage value. I soon discovered that most of my Canadian

colleagues had a different approach. When they spoke of authentic, they meant

'accurate". Theirs was the world of the pedantic reconstruction, the painstakingly

correct period restoration; their highly developed and well-supported research skills

were put to use in history, archaeology and architecture to uncover lost forms

deemed to be significant for Canadians. And what were these values?


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In 1967, Canada celebrated its Centennial; those celebrations focused considerable

attention on the nature of Canadian identity. Unlike today, where that identity

appears almost too complex to define inclusively for the benefit of all, a sense of

national identity then was developed by government by affirming dominant

historical or natural themes that everyone agreed exposed the essential nature of

the country: Gordon Lightfoot's "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" was a ringing anthem to

one of the most important defining acts in Canadian history - the building of the

Trans-Continental railway. Gilles Vigneault's "Mon pays - c'est 1'hiver" focused more

directly on the conditions in nature which fostered Quebecois attachment for the

north.

At that time, Parks Canada - acting for the Government of Canada and continuing a

long-time attachment to reading Canadian history through its military annals -

focused on a significant turning point in the French-English wars - the British

destruction of an early l8th c. French seaport in Nova Scotia, the Fortress of

Louisbourg. In the early 1960s, Parks Canada launched the most extensive historic

reconstruction programme in the nation's history, in order to recapture that early

chapter in French history. Although sparked by efforts to boost a flagging local

economy, Susann Myers notes that the reconstruction was understood as a means to

commemorate a place of profound significance in the struggle for Empire in North

America, and one of the most significant French fishing and trade centers of its era

on the continent.

The reconstruction of 25% of the original town and half its fortifications honed the

skills of the first full generation of conservation professionals in Canada (Parks


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Canada's Restoration Services Division), created in the flush of the boom economic

times that followed the Centennial.

But the rebuilding of Louisbourg fostered more than the development of technical

skills. It fostered an attitude. It suggested that the diligent pursuit of the truth within

archival materials and through archaeology could be realized in the rebuilding of that

vanished truth. Authenticity was understood as a measure of the truthfulness of the

reconstruction, and unprecedented efforts were directed to that goal. And indeed

for Louisbourg, during reconstruction, authenticity was not a critical issue, becausethe reconstruction did not appear to require significant choice among competing

heritage values:

- the reconstruction, while built on the location of the original town, did not result in

destruction of more than 5% of the site's archaeological resources. Significant

original material (lower walls, original floor paving, defensive earthworks), where

possible, was retained in the reconstruction; the unexcavated remains on the site

constitute an archaeological resource of incomparable value;

- the essential character of the site (described by Susann Myers as "a fog-shrouded,

ice-packed, bog-ridden site on the very edge of the New World") remains relatively

intact, as anyone who has walked its streets on a foggy morning can attest.

At the same time, in subsequent years, a number of authenticity issues have

emerged:

- on the positive side, the rich documentary record (both archival and archaeological)

is recognized as a significant contributing part of the site's authenticity;


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- more problematically, the degree to which pragmatic constraints during the

reconstruction process had compromised accuracy - that is, the results of the

research activity preceding reconstruction - was eventually realized. Given that

contemporary Canadian heritage evaluations of the Louisbourg site find that its

importance lies in the reflection of the 1960s and 1970s reconstruction efforts,

current desires to correct "mistakes" offer new authenticity dilemmas. Does

authenticity lie in improving fidelity to the original, or in preserving mistakes

characteristic of the now-valued reconstruction effort?

- equally, given the interpretive goal of portraying l8th c. life within the

reconstruction, early decisions to "sanitize" the history presented (minimizing

references to exploitation of the native population, for example) created similar

dilemmas for contemporary interpreters: to admit past biases, or to maintain

continuity with versions of history previously presented?

The preference of those working at the site in 1995 to resolve these dilemmas by

focusing on the spirit of the '60s and '70s reconstruction, suggests that authenticity

here lies in efforts to honestly and truthfully reflect evolving site knowledge.

A project of greater visibility, greater consequence - and equally, greater controversy

- is the still unfinished restoration of Place Royale, in Quebec's Lower Town. This

project was born in the aftermath of the Quebec's "Quiet Revolution" in the late

1960s when the Quebecois population sought to become "maitre chez-nous" within

Canada. It brought the Province of Quebec together in partnership with the City of

Quebec in undertaking a period restoration designed to show visitors and residents

the city, as it was on the day before the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759 when


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the invading English took Quebec from the French. Though the project wasn't

conceived initially at the scale it later assumed, it was nevertheless clearly an

attempt to articulate a distinctive Quebecois identity. The project involved bringing

building volumes and facades back to their mid-l8th c. appearance; this often meant

stripping out the l9th c. brick upper storeys added above stone gables, and removal

of later "modern" facades. In some cases, it meant rebuilding entire structures in

reinforced concrete, onto which traditional materials were applied. Although both

English Canadians and Quebecois came to question the wisdom of the choice of

values represented in the stripping of this section of the city of all evidence of later

building, Michel Bonnette notes the chief authenticity issue has probably been the

exclusive attention given restoration of earlyforms, without particular regard

for function and use within a living historic city.

A colloquium held in 1978 publicly questioned many of the decisions made. The

restorers, propelled by their dreams of establishing an authentic historic backdrop

for contemporary political aspirations, were criticised by many who said the post-

conflict history of English dominion erased was in fact also the history of their

ancestors. As a result, the scale of the project was limited, and an approach to

conservation more respectful of evolution introduced. At the same time, the

importance of an approach mindful of the heritage gualities of the entire historic

town and concerned to integrate conservation measures within an overall approach

to city development evolved. The "Division du Vieux Quebec" within the City of

Quebec was created to manage this comprehensive approach to management of the

historic centre. Its 15 years of effort have greatly strengthened the city's economic

base, its living and working conditions and the quality of the visitor experience.


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At present, the authenticity debate is focused on appropriate ways to complete the

Place Royale project. Given the poor condition of the project's remaining candidate

buildings, stopping the project to provide "witnesses" to the pre-project state of the

district seems unfeasible. Should restoration efforts therefore focus on bringing

internal harmony to the sector? Or, should respect for the totality of a building's

evolution now guide designers? Whatever the outcome, and in spite of the now-

dated approaches to research, conception and execution which have attracted much

contemporary criticism, it is important to recognize that in many ways the

restoration of Place Royale is authentic - an authentic testament to the will of a

people to claim and reveal their own identity.

Authenticity in contemporary practice

Both of these examples - the Fortress of Louisbourg and the Place Royale restoration

in Quebec were conceived of as "historic sites" - places of such special significance

that they deserved to be withdrawn from day-to-day development pressures so that

their special messages could be clearly presented to visitors. The former, the Fortress

of Louisbourg, functions formally as an historic site within the Parks Canada system;

the latter, Place Royale, while part of a living city, has the frozen-in-time character of

an historic site.

While both sites deserve attention in any study of authenticity in Canada (given their

leadership role in providing conservation models for others and their enormous

educational influence on two generations of professionals), in the 25 years since

their initiation, conservation has come to occupy a major place in main stream

planning. Our definitions of heritage embrace a wide range of tangible and intangible


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expressions of our past lives: we no longer focus just on isolated monuments or sites

of exceptional significance, but rather on the integrated array of features and

patterns present in rural and urban landscapes, and the great range of epresentative

social and economic themes they portray. Our conservation efforts are no longer, for

the most part, opposed to developmental pressures, but integrated within them.

Respect for heritage commands a pivotal position in decision-making at federal,

provincial, regional and municipal levels. As a consequence, contemporary views of

authenticity require analysis of considerably greater complexity than those which

dominated in development of Louisbourg, or Place Royale, or the historic site

systems within which they flourished and which they in turn inspired.

Conservation in Canada in 1995 - beyond the world of historic sites - brings forth a

number of important authenticity issues. How do we treat authenticity in significant

structures which remain in living use? How do we deal with authenticity for

structures damaged by catastrophe, natural or human in origin? How do we deal

with authenticity for living historic settlements?

Let us look at these in turn; first, let's look at significant structures in living use.

Current studies of Canada's Library of Parliament provides a useful case study. The

Library, given its siting and the quality of its High Victorian Gothic Revival

architecture, establishes the character of Ottawa's Parliament Hill and is one of

Canada's most remarkable buildings. Over time, continuing changes in operational

requirements have resulted in various cycles of alteration to building fabric - some

respectful, others less so. Current operational requirements suggest the need for

further changes. Building users have questioned whether the need to upgrade once


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again to meet changing functional requirements provides an opportunity to restore

the building to its 1876 appearance. Andrew Powter notes that respect for

authenticity here has guided conservationists and designers to use a methodology

which "assesses all decisions against identified areas of value, asking whether

heritage value is enhanced, reduced or impact neutral". This approach ensures that

interventions respond to the particular qualities of elements being treated, rather

than to generalized perceptions. In this way, as Powter notes, essentially, "the

Library will be conserved in its present form. After careful assessments and

consideration, negative alterations of the past will be removed." As well, future

alterations will be conceived in a context of respect for existing heritage values, and

therefore be consciously planned to maintain or strengthen these values.

What about heritage structures which have suffered catastrophic loss? A good

example is St. George's Church in Halifax, heavily damaged by fire in June 1994.

Constructed in 1800, the church is one of the finest examples of Palladian

architecture in the country.

The debate which followed the fire raised a number of authenticity issues: first, did

enough material survive to communicate the significant values of the church? if the

church were retained as a ruin, would its essential values still be present? or would

restoration be necessary to maintain those values? Once commitment to a six million

dollar restoration had been made, other questions emerged: where areas of

significant value could not be retained, should long-standing perceptions of needed

functional improvements give priority to measures which would meet these needs

rather than simply restore lost fabric? Again here, by assessing the contribution of


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various attributes to the site's heritage values, a post-fire restoration strategy

designed to maximize retention of authenticity could be created.

The problems of defining authenticity for single structures are multiplied many times

over in looking at authenticity for a historic settlement or city. Clearly, for example,

in looking at Montreal, authenticity is not to be understood by looking at the sum of

the authenticity assessments for individual buildings, but rather, as Dinu Bumbaru

notes, by finding means to measure the general flavour' or personality of a place.

Questions of building use, street-life and population mix enter into thisdetermination as much as building attributes. Nor in looking at building fabric, is it

enough to identify discrete monumental and vernacular contributions to that fabric.

Montreal, among North American metropolises, is a rare example of a city to have

substantially maintained the continuity, density, and spatial and material

organisation of its urban tissue, over its entire history. This can be contrasted with

the development of the centre of Hull in the mid 1970s, to permit expansion of the

National Capital to Quebec province across the Ottawa River. The resulting

expropriations, neighbourhood demolitions and new office tower blocks destroyed

the urban tissue of the city's core, and the social fabric that it supported. Successive

waves of demolition have accompanied continued expansion pressures on the ever

more fragile urban tissue of Hull.

Present challenges in maintaining authenticity in both Montreal and Hull and in

other Canadian cities are many. Alain Lafreniere notes in speaking of Hull the

vulnerability of vernacular architecture (which comprises 90% of the traditional built

fabric): the difficulties of politicians in defending the "ordinary", land prices which

invite speculation, and difficulties among professionals in defining sources of value in


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the vernacular. In Montreal, Dinu Bumbaru notes that the particular nature of the

Montreal residential vernacular (stone veneer on wood plank frame) renders these

buildings susceptible to a particular authenticity threatening virus (facadism) and

their owners vulnerable to marketplace blandishments which promote use of cover-

up materials (vinyl, angelstone etc.) in conveying a modern and progressive image.

Some related points emerge in addressing urban authenticity challenges in a

Canadian context. First, it is clear that authenticity is here not just as an issue for

experts, but rather something that deeply concerns citizens interested to maintainthe essential qualities of their neighbourhoods. Secondly, that responding to their

concerns requires urban management processes which involve citizens in defining

together the heritage values important to them, and which encourage development

processes sensitive to every-day elements and personality-defining traditions, and

patterns of life important to citizens.

Authenticity and cultural landscapes

The current popularity of the "cultural landscapes" framework for defining and

managing significant heritage illustrates how the values of complex territories may

be usefully expressed and managed. Conceived by the World Heritage Committee as

"illustrative of the evolution of human society and settlement over time", Susan

Buggey notes cultural landscapes can be understood to hold both intrinsic values

(expressed in continuity of land uses, land management practices and traditions and

manifest in corresponding patterns of spatial organisation, circulation networks and

in choice of building materials, forms and technologies) and associative values (as

witnesses to traditional and/or spiritual beliefs). Authenticity analysis here, of


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necessity, is focused on understanding significant elements of dynamic processes,

rather than the relatively static attributes of form and material. In a context where

every-day change is the norm, authenticity analysis quickly leads conservationists to

identify significant values within their place on a backward and forward looking

continuum, amid recognition that the best solutions are not those that protect, but

those that renew.

There are many examples of how focus on the dynamic qualities in the initial

evaluation process for a cultural landscape can clarify the true sources ofauthenticity, and guide conservation decisionmaking. Recent studies of the le

d'Orleans (Pierre LaRochelle"Le Projet de Paysage au Quebec", Trames, U. de Mtl.,

1994) in the St. Lawrence River, near Quebec City, one of the most celebrated

farming landscapes in Canada and linked in popular myth to the l7th and l8th c.

origins of New France, have demonstrated the value of typo-morphological analytical

approaches focused on the commonplace (rather than as in conventional heritage

analysis, on the distinctive and rare). LaRochelles's focus on morphogenetic

characteristics assists in identifying "permanences structurales"

- that is, forms that maintain a recognizable continuity in spite of the renewal of their

components - and of using these to define guidelines to protect significant vistas, to

determine appropriate forms for new construction and to outline development

project frameworks which will maximize use of existing land layout and circulation

patterns.

Other typical Canadian landscapes are in need of similar analysis to reduce the

threats to their continuing existence. The familiar prairie landscape of grain elevators


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punctuating the horizon at 8 or 10 mile intervals along rail-lines is menaced by

change in farming and distribution technology. Since 1950, already 2/3 of the

country's standing elevators have been lost, and the legibility they bring to the

prairies greatly diminished. Grain elevators carried multiple messages: they told

distant travellers where to go, and when they arrived they "signposted" the

community and the grain-handling company established there; when clustered

together, they marked a prosperous settlement; their building-like gables, cupolas,

windows and siding extended the character of the towns in which they sat. Today,

advances in elevator technology are replacing traditional structures with engineered

structures of much greater capacity, efficiency and safety; these tend to be built at

the edges of town, far from the traditional commercial core. Elevator companies are

unwilling to maintain unused elevators since these constitute fire and safety hazards,

and continue to require high upkeep, insurance and tax outlays; improvements in the

road system have nullified the advantages of pooling grain at traditional elevator

locations.

Analysis which would identify the significant patterns and attributes of the prairie

landscape as reflective of characterdefining dynamic processes focus attention on

authenticity indicators, and provide an explicit framework for guiding change in

directions likely to maintain landscape values. Without greater consciousness of

these opportunities the attrition of the most important defining features of the

prairie landscape will undoubtedly continue.

The same analysis is helpful in looking at other defining features of Canada's cultural

landscapes - the many transportation corridors which tie the country together:

national river systems like the St. Lawrence River and the Mackenzie River in the


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Northwest which opened up the continent to the fur trade and to exploration, canals

like the 200 km. long Rideau Canal from Kingston to Ottawa built in the early l9th c.

for defensive reasons, the two trans-continental railway lines built in the late l9th c.

and the Trans-Canada Highway, the world's longest paved road - 7821 kilometres

from St. John's Newfoundland to Victoria, British Columbia.

As Christina Cameron points out in "The Challenges of Historic Corridors" (CRM

Bulletin - Vol. 16, No. 11, 1993), the authenticity challenge is to guide necessary

modifications to the fabric of corridor elements while maintaining the essentialfunction of moving "goods and people along the route."

Authenticity and the heritage of Canada's indigenous peoples

In recent years, conservation authorities have begun to look for ways to

acknowledge and enhance appreciation of the heritage of Canada's native peoples.

This commitment has brought with it new authenticity challenges, given the

intangible and associational nature of much of what Canada's First Nations call their

heritage. These issues are well illustrated in efforts to develop an interpretive

programme for one of the first Canadian cultural heritage sites to be inscribed on the

World Heritage List, HeadSmashed-in-Buffalo Jump, near Fort McLeod, Alberta.

Interpretive programmes were intended to reveal and support the central historical

theses defined by Alberta's Historic Sites Service for the site:

"For thousands of years up to the contact period, Indians of the northwestern plains

developed a cultural system based upon the exploitation of the great herds of

buffalo. The countless uses ofthe buffalo meat, hides, horns, bones, hoofs and

sinew, the nature of rituals and mythologies, and the gearing of the entire mode of


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Iife to the roving herds reflectthe supreme importance of this animal. During this

time several complex and sophisticatedtechniques were developed to

facilitate the killing of great numbers of buffalo. HeadSmashed-In is

arguablythe best preserved representative of one of the most effective and long

usedkilling techniquesthe buffalo jump. The archaeological remains at this site

reflect at least 6000 years of cultural adaptation and Zifestyle on the northwestern

plains."

Les Hurt of Alberta's Historic Sites Services notes that:

"site development activity was and continues to be driven bythe belief that

thepresentcharacter ofthe local landscape - natural landform covered

with prairie vegetation and affected by modern man only to the extent required by

its usefor cattle ranching - must be preserved, and thatany

permanent construction requiredfor development purposes must (1) be as nearly

invisible as is technically feasible and(2) avoid impact to or minimally

impactthe archaeological resource base."

Here, evidently, one aspect of maintaining authenticity has required a focus on the

physical, attempting to minimize the intrusion of interpretive devices, including the

Interpretive Center itself.

But even more importantly, for this site, cultural authenticity could be understood to

be a reflection of the nature of the cultural experience offered. At this level, the site

can have a strong impact on visitors. The site is presented exclusively by native

interpreters, who are responsible for communicating the spirit of the site. The

authenticity of the native messages delivered at Head-Smashed-In is assured through


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reference back to native Advisory Boards and elders. Where "native" or "scientific"

interpretations differ, both are presented as "different", not 'competing" views.

Jack Brink, the site's archaeologist, notes that the goal of interpretation is to increase

understanding of the complexity and sophistication of Aboriginal culture with

respect to its communal hunting efforts in particular, and its cultural adaptations in

general. Brink also notes that the site

"seeks to promote understanding between members of different culturalbackgrounds.A

focal message here is thatfear of other cultures, andthefailure to appreciate cultural differences, stems from

ignorance of the ways and customs ofgroups other than our own. By pressing for recognition of

the elaborate nature of Aboriginalcultural expressions, the HeadSmashed-In experience hopes to foster an

understanding ofcultural differences. Thatall visitors encounter only Native Guides in their tour ofthefacility goes

a long way towards achieving this objective. Authenticity of interpretation clearly takes on an enhanced level of

meaning for visitors experiencing their firstencounter with Aboriginal people, andin hearing the story of HSI from

the living descendants of those people who once built and usedthe site."

Visitors are well aware that the site is revered and respected by Aboriginal people

today, and that its spiritual qualities contribute greatly to the sense of authenticity it

offers.

Authenticity and tourism

In our current economic climate, with heritage conservation now expected to pay its

own way, perhaps the single largest challenge to maintaining authenticity is the

market-driven indifference of much of the tourism industry to the true qualities of

the heritage attractions promoted and sold.

It is important for tourism decision-makers working with heritage assets to overturn

conventional marketing strategies conceived not in response to existing demand (as


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is so often claimed), but which rather create markets by stimulating demand. It is

important to realize that the public wants authenticity; they want to believe in the

genuineness, in the completeness, in the truth of the messages carried by the

heritage they come in contact with. It is also important to realize that even where

commitment to authenticity is made, small decisions can quickly accumulate to

diminish the authentic guality of an experience. As Fergus Maclaren notes,

"inevitably, thepre-existing design and uses of an area become compromised by

what will drawtourists. In warehouse districts, new uses such as cafds, bookstores,boutiques and residential lofts are often superimposed on old activity patterns

associated with factories and industrial sites. The need to sustain an image that is

attractive to visitors can lead one to redefine history. The fear isthat a district's

heritage resources merely become a facade for non-traditional

commercialand residentialactivity. The area's residents act as players

in the everyday drama for tourists to photograph and gawkat. The irony is thatwhile

the grimy reality of an area may be perceived as too harsh to attract tourists, the

gentrification process may belie a truthful history of development andchange."

More often than not, tourism planning in Canada has diminished rather than

enhanced the authenticity of special sites. But for every authenticity-diluting

summer-time experience in Quebec City or St. Andrews-by-the-Sea (New Brunswick),

where building images are seasonally transformed through store fronts pursuing the

trendy, the fashionable, indeed often the garish - whatever the tourist taste being

wooed - and heritage qualities diluted, there are successes like Granville Island on

Vancouver's False Creek. Here a waterside light industrial and warehouse site was

redeveloped in the 1970's to become a popular market, recreation center and


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marina. Many of the original structures have been converted for modern uses:

shops, restaurants, theatres, a hotel, an art college. Though authenticity of function

has not been maintained (but for the Ocean Cement plant and the Granville Island

Brewery), the surviving fragments of what had become a largely abandoned

industrial site, overlaid with evocative modern signs and colour schemes, all in the

shadow of the Granville Street bridge, recall the earlier era, and convey its significant

historic messages.

As in other dynamic systems, tourism development can be managed for thebetterment of the resources on which it is based. This can be done if understanding

of the sources of present authenticity can be used to identify those characteristic

attributes and processes essential to maintaining the context and purpose of places

of heritage value.

Authenticity, historic sites and commemorative integrity

One of the most intriguing approaches to authenticity in Canada has come out of the

contemporary historic sites system and the growing need in the 1990s for Parks

Canada, working within an increasingly decentralized decision-making system, and

with local "partners" to a much greater degree than previously, to clarify its

approach to assigning and protecting value in historic sites. The Cultural Resources

Management (CRM) Policy adopted by Parks Canada in 1993 with its focus on five

key principles to be used to assess the appropriateness of development options

(value, understanding, integrity, respect, public benefit) has played a major role in

democratizing decision-making by providing shared decision-making tools and

precepts. This approach has been accompanied by introduction of a concept which


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embodies a systematic approach to defining and working with authenticity issues:

"commemorative integrity".

Commemorative integrity

"describes the health or wholeness of a national historic site. A national historic site

possesses commemorative integrity when the resources that symbolize or represent

its importance are notimpairedor under threat, when the reasons forthe site's

national historic significance are effectivelycommunicated to the public, andwhen

the site's heritage values are respected by a11 whosedecisions or actions affectthe

site."

Gordon Bennett has this to say about the development of commemorative integrity

in the Parks Canada system (in "Commemorative Integrity and National Historic

Sites", printed note revised 15/10/95, Canadian Heritage/Parks Canada):

"The concept of commemorative integritywas developed forthe 1990s State of the Parks

Report when it was realized (with some incredulity) that we did not have a conceptual frameworkthat enabled us

to evaluate theoverall state of a national historic site. There was considerable information on various

parts (e.g., condition of resources, state of presentation, etc.) and a wide range of ideas on whatmight constitute

a desirable statefor a national historic site, but there was no overa3l construct or way to integrate this information

coherentlyand effectively on a site-specific basis. Indeed, almosta11 of our tools were based on assessing the state

ofparticular activities or broad categories of system-wideresources. In other words, we lacked aframework to deal

with ourfundamental mandate - national historic sites. In some importantrespects, the means had

become mistaken forthe ends.

"The fact thatour colleagues in national parks were using"ecological integrity"to

such goodeffect led us to lookfor an analogous concept or ideal to help us describe

the state of national historic sites. For a variety of reasons, the concept of "historical


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integrity" was rejected as an analogue, and "commemorative integrity" was

adoptedinstead. But is should be noted that ecological integrityhas a significant

presentation componentwhich is not present with ecological integrity. Secondly, they

are based on different notions ofwhat is significant. Ecologicalintegrityfocuses on

pristineness and on the restoration wherepossible of that pristineness when it

has been adversely affectedby human impact. Commemorative integrity, on the

otherhand, may not be affected by the fact thattheplace itselfis notthe same as it

was 50, 100 or 10,000 years ago. If the past really is to be a part of the present, the

notion of an enclave, bufferedfrom a hostile present, may not be appropriate."

The value of this approach lies in its ability to provide an explicitly clear framework

for decision-making. All partners in the process are enabled to work together by their

ability to focus on shared objectives and to use shared option assessment criteria.

Conclusion

The Nara discussions (and the Bergen discussions which preceded them) focused on

clarifying various attributes of cultural heritage through which its values might be

expressed. The "design, materials, workmanship and setting"of the World Heritage

Committee's "test of authenticity" were extended in discussion in Bergen to

include "design/form; materials/substance;function/use; traditions/techniques;

setting/context". The Nara Document refers to these as "sources of information" and

describes:

"those internal to the monument or site, including form and design, materials and

substance, use and function, traditions andtechniques, location and setting, and

spirit and feeling, and other external sources of information. The use of these sources


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permits elaboration ofthe specific artistic, historic, social, and scientific dimensions

of the cultural heritage being examined."

The authenticity analysis and issues looked at for sites examined in this paper point

toward several conclusions worth considering in the context of the Nara Document.

1. The Canadian examples looked at confirm the importance of authenticity in

Canadian conservation decision-making. Given that authenticity is a measure of the

essential truth of the messages carried by our heritage, it is equally important for

professionals and citizens to involve themselves in that search.

2. The examples looked at confirmed the utility of a systematic analytical framework

in examining authenticity in heritage -a framework which ensures that analysis is

carried out relative to explicitly defined heritage values and their significant

associated attributes. (Parks Canada's "Commemorative Integrity" approach is an

example of such a framework).

3. The range of examples looked at also confirmed the value of an expanded array of

authenticity attributes, in particular treating questions of function and

ongoing tradition (for sites like cultural landscapes and the vernacular), whose values

lie in characteristic dynamic processes.

4. The examples also directed attention to the need to ensure adequate involvement

of local populations in defining heritage values, related attributes and authenticity.

5. While consideration of the Canadian examples treated in this paper demonstrate

the value of being able to fine-tune authenticity analysis by identifying the particular

attributes of most importance in expressing a site's values, it has also suggested the


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value of a parallel, more holistic examination of authenticity. More important than

choice between form or materials, or between form or function - particularly within

contemporary heritage perspectives - is the need to focus on the overall spirit of a

place, to be aware of the over-riding ability of a place (through the cumulative

impact of all of its attributes) to convey significant messages.

If authenticity analysis looks only at the nature of important single character-defining

attributes, then it may become a mechanical exercise which misses the larger

essence of a site. For example, while Place Royale's restoration is not particularlyauthentic within conventional frameworks with respect to form and material, it is at

the same time the authentic testimony of a legitimate shared cultural aspiration, and

that may overweigh the conventional concerns noted. Equally, in looking at urban

areas or cultural landscapes, authenticity is often more than the sum of the parts: a

sense of character, or personality, or identity which the qualities of the attributes

alone cannot explain. Authenticity assessment must also therefore anticipate and

integrate the articulation of supporting attributes by identifying the essential spirit of

a place and the degree to which proposed changes may support, continue, enhance

or diminish that spirit.

Berb Stovel, President, ICOMOS Canada

in collaboration with ICOMOS Canada members:

Gordon Bennett, Policy, Legislation and Government Relations Branch, National Historic Sites,

Parks Canada, Ottawa;

Michel Bonnette, Organization of World Heritage Cities, Quebec City;


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Jack Brink, Archaeologist, Head-Smashed-in Buffalo Jump, Alberta;

Susan Buggey, Historical and Built Environment Research Branch, National Historic Sites Directorate,

Parks Canada, Ottawa;

Dinu Bumbaru, Heritage Montreal, Montreal;

Christina Cameron, National Historic Sites Directorate, Parks Canada, Ottawa;

Les Hurt, Alberta Historic Sites Services, Edmonton; Walter Jamieson, Faculty of Environmental Design,

University of Calgary;

Frank Korvemaker, Heritage Branch, Government of Saskatchewan, Regina;

Alain Lafrenire, National Capital Commission, Ottawa;

Pierre LaRochelle, School of Architecture, University of Laval, Quebec City;

Christisne Lefebvre, Conservation consultant, Montreal;

Fergus Maclaren, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary;

Susann Myers, Parks Canada, Atlantic Region, Louisbourg;

Andrew Powter, Heritage Conservation Program, Public Works Canada, Ottawa;

Wayne Zelmer, Heritage Branch, Government of Saskatchewan. Regina.

Date post:	10-Apr-2018
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Authenticity in Canadian Conservation Practice

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