A Do. Cismos U N N N 20 Years of Heritage Preservation
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N N N N a do. ciSmos U N N N 20 Years of Heritage Preservation S 1973 to 1993 N N Waterloo Regional N Heritage Foundation N N N 1992 ANNUAL REPORT N N TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Message from the Chair 1 Membership 1992-93 5 Message from the Regional Chair 6 Reports from Other Organizations Waterloo Historical Society 7 Waterloo-Wellington Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society 8 - Heritage Cambridge 9 North Waterloo Branch, Architectural Conservancy of Ontario 10 Foundation Activities 1992-93 - Archives Committee 12 - City of Kitchener Arts Working Group 12 - Grants Review Committee 1993 13 III- Heritage Display System Loans 14 - Heritage Showcase 1993 15 III - LACAC Liaison/Info-Share 16 - Regional Official Policies Plan Review, 110 Heritage Section 16 Ili - Tremaine Map Display Schedule 17 Auditor's Report and Financial Statement Ili as of December 31, 1992 18 The Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation 1973-1993 by Susan Hodges Bryant Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation Grants 1973-1993 eff22ecgaie 4th Floor, Moreland Centre Waterloo, Ontario N2J 4G7 Message from the Chair: "WE HAVE NOT INHERITED THIS FROM OUR FOREFATHERS WE HAVE BORROWED IT FROM OUR CHILDREN" - A Haida Saying There is an old Haida Indian saying that I feel is an appropriate introduction to this, my summary of the Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation's activities and achievements. The saying goes like this: "We have not inherited this from our forefathers, we have borrowed it from our children." This quotation means to me that, although it is important to protect the past for our use, what is more vital is to preserve it for the future, for the use of others who follow us. Put into this context, there is double the pressure on all of us in the Heritage field - not just to preserve for today, but to ensure that what we have preserved today will still be with us long into the future. But before I pursue this train of thought any further, let us remember that tonight's Annual Meeting has the added significance and pleasure of allowing us to celebrate 20 years of Regional Government. NLet us pause for a moment, therefore, to reflect on the Heritage accomplishments of the past 20 years - our successful protection of the past, if you will, and then look into the future I referred to in the Haida quotation. This may be biased, but I believe that the most significant Regional Heritage accomplishment of the past 20 years was the creation of the Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation on the recommendation of our first Regional Chairman, Jack Young. As the history of the Foundation, written by Susan Bryant of Wordswork, states: "It was founded to preserve the heritage, culture, traditions, landmarks, historic buildings, and objects of historical significance." If you review the list of grants awarded over the years, you will quickly realize that the Foundation has succeeded in fulfilling its ambitious mandate. Let me illustrate briefly some examples of these continuing heritage successes through our Foundation support. The Waterloo Ni - 1 - Historical Society, which began publishing its Annual Volume 80 years ago, recently won the Scadding Award of Excellence for outstanding contributions to the local historical society movement in Ontario. The Foundation annually supports the publication of these extraordinary volumes and recognizes the leadership shown in documenting our history. We have contributed funding for many restorations such as the Wellesley Town Hall in Crosshill, the Black Horse Corners Cheese Factory, the old Waterloo Post Office, the Brubacher Mennonite Farmhouse, to name but a few. We have even assisted with fence repairs and ceiling restorations. And we have been involved in many other areas, in addition to physical restorations, such as the production of videos, books, booklets, inventories, maps and photographic studies, the funding of driving tours and also the invaluable oral history tapes at Kitchener Public Library and even the excavating and reinterring of bodies from the Harvie Cemetery. These have been but a few of the projects that the Foundation has assisted across the Region. And of course, two projects of exceptional importance are the purchase of the Joseph Schneider Haus and the support for Dr. Elizabeth Bloomfield's Waterloo County Bibliography. Schneider Haus has grown into a major tourist attraction which portrays our Mennonite heritage, bringing us international recognition. Dr. Bloomfield's book will be officially launched later in the program when her accomplishments will be fully recognized. A major concern of the Foundation over the past two years has been the condition of archival resources within the Region. To assist in creating awareness of the need for preservation, a standing committee has been struck which will look for ways to protect these valuable assets. The foresight of Mr. Young in having the vision for heritage awareness was ahead of its time, for at that time in the province there were only two other Foundations - Frontenac and Niagara - but neither was funded by a Regional government. There were no Local Architectural Advisory Committees nor was there an Ontario Heritage Act. Although there was no guidance or model, the Foundation's Board of Directors met for the first time to speak loudly as one voice and forcibly as one strong unit in support of heritage preservation. And thankfully today, the Regional government still continues those early efforts to preserve and protect. Their Quality of Life Report, their provincially recognized Archaeological Master Plan, the Ecological and Environmental Advisory Committee, EEAC as it is known, open public meetings with the heritage community for input into the Official Plan Heritage Policies, financial support for Doon Heritage Crossroads and Schneider Haus, and just recently the - 2 - formation of the Heritage Advisory Committee - these endeavours all continue a strong heritage advocacy role begun many years ago. I have given you many examples of how a government-instituted new policy brought about change, and made this Region a better place to live through heritage preservation. But things are much different today. Citizens cannot expect governments alone to make changes. Today we must work together for a better future. No one government or no one person can do it alone because politics today is governed by public participation. And public participation and public support is what we have seen over the past 20 years. A huge debt of gratitude is owed to the hundreds of people - volunteers, community activists, and others - who have fought and persevered to keep that one building standing, that one block viable, or one neighbourhood intact or one tree alive. But will past efforts, though successful then, be enough today? If it is important enough for one heritage group to fight for the preservation of a building such as the Galt Hospital, should not the heritage community stand beside them? For the fight still continues. We still have developers who do not recognize the significance of our built heritage. And there are no funds for acquiring structures in jeopardy. Tony Hiss, author of "The Experience of Place", states that "you have the right to introduce your children to what you have been introduced to". We must therefore continue to act together to ensure that the things we value will be there for our children. The developers, financiers and stock market traders may have been the leaders in the eighties. Yet all they built were speculative buildings for speculative buyers and speculative tenants. Should they be allowed today to build speculative cities? In Europe and in some cities in the U.S.A. architecture is recognized as being of value because people value the life they 111 live. Recently, the Globe and Mail featured a series of articles on "The Rethinking of the Canadian City." The articles support the need to curb sprawl, to encourage sane development, to weaken the grip of the automobile and to utilize efficiently sewers and 111 transit. There is no better moment than now to begin this debate, to make our cities more liveable. The economy is in a slump and developers are not twisting arms to win concessions, public works are in abeyance and civic budgets are more or less under control. Now is the time for us all to act because the public hungers for some semblance of leadership to shape an uncertain future. What can we do? We can work towards a reduction on our reliance on the automobile, we can preserve rail lines for bicycle paths and trails, we can demand public art in public squares and Ild public places and we can preserve our few remaining scenic roads. Ni 3 - NJ Will the neo-traditional planning concept of Andres Duany win out with its emphasis on neighbourhoods? Do we want more festivals, more markets, better landscaping, more sidewalk cafes (and not next to a parking lot)? Will farmsteads again become important in conjunction now with the environment? Do we allow expressways to bisect and destroy our cities? Or do we create a vibrant city centre not dead after 5:00 p.m.? Do we demand good urban design when we grapple with infilling and intensification? Remember: one structure removed from a street changes the streetscape forever. And in the reverse, a new building does not stand alone in a city but is part of a collage, part of a greater unity. Because of economic conditions and a fixed grant, over the last two years, it has been increasingly difficult for the Foundation to support large heritage endeavours. But nevertheless, the mandate can still be kept alive. We can join forces with you and we can be supportive both actively and verbally. We can preserve the Gaol and the Governor's house.