National historic designations

[Pictures of several plaques unveilings in time.]

[Text: Since its creation in 1919, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC) has played a leading role in identifying the important stories that have shaped our country.]

[Text: The Board is composed of members for each province and territory.]

[Text: The Board advises the Government of Canada on the designation of places, persons and events of national historic significance.]

[Russell Grosse talks directly to the camera.]

[Text: Russell Grosse Member for Nova Scotia]

Russell Grosse: The National Program of Historical Commemoration is so important, it's vital to us being able to link from the past to the present to know where we came from.

[Pictures of a plaque unveiling with Russell Grosse.]

[Dean Oliver talks directly to the camera.]

[Text: Dr. Dean Oliver Representative of the Canadian Museum of History]

Dean Oliver: Commemoration is remembering and showing respect for something that occurred in the past, and at a national level, it means remembering and showing respect for,

[Visitors at a national historic site.]

[Dean Oliver talks directly to the camera.]

Dean Oliver: or allowing others to show respect for something important that happened in the past that has, within our remit, some kind of national significance.

[People playing music and dancing at a national historic site.]

[Ali Ndaye talks directly to the camera.]

[Text: Aly Ndiaye Member for Québec]

Ali Ndaye: The commemoration program is important because it allows us to better embed history in public spaces. We are able to put up plaques,

[Pictures of different plaques all across Canada.]

[Ali Ndaye talks directly to the camera.]

Ali Ndaye: and people are given an opportunity to learn about and to connect with history without necessarily having to look for it.

[People reading the text on plaques.]

Ali Ndaye: And this is why commemoration is so important: you can stroll down the street, visit places, come across a plaque, read it and learn.

[Dean Oliver talks directly to the camera.]

Dean Oliver: It sounds sometimes as though the only purpose of that is to remember good things, things that make us happy about where we are and who we are. But in fact, it's to remember and to show respect for all kinds of things that had national significance.

[Pictures of different plaque unveilings.]

[Kids looking at a plaque.]

Ali Ndaye: For a very long time, the way we commemorated Canadian history was very Eurocentric, very ethnocentric.

[Old pictures of plaque centered around the Canadian colonial history.]

Ali Ndaye: We’ve covered white Canadian history and the history of English and French colonization, but not much has been said about Indigenous history, about African-Quebec or African-Canadian history,

[Pictures of different plaque unveilings.]

Ali Ndaye: or about Asian or Asian-Canadian history. The challenge is to include these different narratives so that we can ultimately have a broader, fairer, and more nuanced portrait of our history as Canadians.

[Bill Waiser talks directly to the camera.]

[Text: Dr. Bill Waiser Member for Saskatchewan]

Bill Waiser: It's a matter of recognition. Looking at Canada's past and telling that story, or I should say stories, and all its diversity.

[People taking pictures of a plaque.]

[Sarah Jerome talks directly to the camera.]

[Text: Sarah Jerome Member for the Northwest Territories]

Sarah Jerome: I think the fact that now the Indigenous knowledge, that traditional knowledge, the history is starting to come out

[Pictures of ceremonies and plaque unveilings with different indigenous communities.]

Sarah Jerome: and I think more Indigenous people across Canada are realizing that hey, we’re part of this history. I think we should start contributing and making nominations for some of the places in our region.

Bill Waiser: I think any member of the Canadian public should be encouraged to put a recommendation forward whether it be an event, a person, or a place. They don't have to do the heavy lifting. They don't have to do all the homework. They simply submit a recommendation based on a few lines, a few sentences, why they believe the recommendation is historically significant.

[Pictures of different plaque unveilings.]

Russell Grosse: It’s vital for us as Canadians to be able to keep that legacy alive and, you know, it's a way of recording history into memory.

[Picture of a plaque unveiling.]

[Text: Learn more about the defining moments in Canada’s history: parks.canada.ca/culture]

[Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada logo.]