YORK FACTORY NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE OF CANADA ...

2. Planning Context:
York Factory at the Turn of the 21 st Century
This chapter describes York Factory NHSC when management planning began. It
provides information to understand the conditions, issues and needs that have
affected the direction taken in planning, and includes views about the site expressed
by members of First Nations communities, stakeholders and the interested public.
Of particular importance to the planning of York Factory NHSC is the fact that its
commemorative integrity is significantly impaired (refer to York Factory National
Historic Site of Canada Commemorative Integrity Evaluation 2002/03). A number of
threats, as already mentioned, are highly likely to have an effect on the site and
could destroy valuable cultural resources.
2.1 Cultural Resource Management
Cultural resource management involves generally accepted practices for protecting
and presenting cultural resources found in national historic sites, national parks,
and national marine conservation areas. A cultural resource is a human work or
place that gives evidence of human activity, or a place that has spiritual or cultural
meaning, and has been determined to have heritage value by way of a recognized
designation, or by an associated community’s shared belief of what has important
historical, cultural or spiritual meaning. Described in the Parks Canada Cultural
Resource Management Policy, cultural resource management is practised by:
• inventorying resources on the property;
• evaluating which resources are cultural resources by identifying their
heritage values;
• considering the heritage values in decisions and actions that may affect the
protection and presentation of the individual cultural resources and the site
as a whole; and
• monitoring cultural resources and our actions to ensure their conservation
and protection.
Cultural resource management, from inventory to monitoring, has been and
continues to be a major effort, as well as a challenge, at York Factory NHSC.
York Factory NHSC is 48 hectares (118 acres) in area. This is the property that the
HBC transferred to the federal government in 1968, including some private holdings
and the former Provincial Game Branch property that were later acquired by Parks
Canada. Less than half the property, about a 250 metre wide strip by the Hayes
River, bears most of the cultural resources. The land further back from the river is
(and was) low, wet fen, not suited for habitation. Next to the river, there are the
remains of the core of York Factory III, dating from 1788 to 1957, and the remains of
a number of buildings, camps and the cemetery associated with the surrounding
community.
York Factory NHSC Management Plan Page 8