Wikipedia:Canadian Register of Historic Places
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 | This page in a nutshell: The Canadian Register of Historic Places is a great reliable source for article citations, but it does not itself confer historic status on properties. |
What is it?
[edit]The Canadian Register of Historic Places (CRHP, or commonly called "Canada's Historic Places") is an online database of historic places in Canada that have been formally recognized (i.e. designated) as historic/heritage properties by either the municipal, provincial, territorial or federal governments, or a combination thereof. It is a collaboration of the federal, provincial and territorial governments intended to provide a single source of information about historic sites across the country, and it is administered by Parks Canada.
It has its own Wikipedia article.
Does it contain all historic sites in Canada?
[edit]No. It is a work in progress. For example, the CRHP contains pages on most National Historic Sites of Canada, but not all of them. Similarly, the information on sites designated by municipal, provincial and territorial governments is also incomplete. The intention is that the CRHP will eventually include all designated historic places in Canada.
For that reason, the absence of a site on the CRHP is not determinative of historic status.
What does inclusion on the CRHP mean?
[edit]The CRHP confers no historic status or protection. It is merely a database of sites that have been officially designated by governments in Canada as having historic value. The CRHP is an information tool, not a heritage designation itself.
The main body of a Wikipedia article should never refer to a site being listed or included on the CRHP. It is the underlying designation(s), not the CRHP, which confers historic status. A reference in the body of an article to a site's inclusion in the CRHP, rather than to the site's actual historic designations, completely misses the point (and misleads the reader) as to why the site is historically notable.
For example, Old Guelph City Hall is notable because, among other things, it is a National Historic Site of Canada and it is also designated by the City of Guelph under the Ontario Heritage Act. The inclusion of this old city hall on the CRHP is merely a byproduct of these two historic designations and does not itself contribute to the building's notability.
As a comparison, Justin Trudeau is notable because he is Prime Minister of Canada, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and M.P. for the riding of Papineau, not because he has an entry on the biographies section of the Parliament of Canada website. Only a select few Canadians have a biography on the parliamentary website, but that's not what makes Trudeau important or notable.
Is it the same as the National Register of Historic Places in the U.S.?
[edit]No. The National Register of Historic Places in the United States is an actual heritage register, with its own criteria for inclusion and nomination process. Unlike the CRHP, the NRHP confers historic status on sites. The CRHP is not the "Canadian version" of the NRHP.
Is the CRHP useful to Wikipedians?
[edit]Yes. The CRHP is very useful, as it is a reliable source which provides information on the history and historic designations of a site. While inclusion in the CRHP is not itself a historic designation, the CRHP is often used as a source of information and is referenced in citations in Wikipedia articles. For example, the CRHP is used twice in the references in the article on Montreal's Windsor Station as a source for the train station's federal and provincial historic designations.
How do I cite the CRHP?
[edit]You can use the {{CRHP}} template. The CRHP changed the URLs for all of its pages a couple of times in the past, suddenly creating hundreds of broken links in Wikipedia articles about Canadian historic sites (the project is still littered with a number of these dead links). The use of the CRHP template not only standardizes references to the CRHP, but it would significantly reduce the number of links that need to be updated in the event of any future URL change.
Are there other databases in Canada similar to the CRHP?
[edit]Parks Canada maintains the online Directory of Federal Heritage Designations, which lists most sites, events and persons subject to federal historic designations (National Historic Sites, National Historic Persons, National Historic Events, Heritage Railway Stations, Heritage lighthouses and Federal Heritage Buildings). The {{DFHD}} template was created to assist with citations to this database.
Most provinces, and some municipalities, maintain similar online databases of designated historic places within their specific jurisdictions.