Niagara-on-the-Lake is working hard to be on a list of World Heritage Sites.
In August 2016, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change announced the opening of the tentative list, which is an inventory of natural and cultural heritage properties with strong potential to be inscribed on UNESCO’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage List.
The Town’s UNESCO Committee is undertaking research and assessing the Town’s cultural heritage resources with the goal of submitting a nomination to Canada’s Tentative List and eventually the World Heritage List.
Officials say its exciting for Niagara-on-the-Lake as World Heritage designations are reserved for properties considered to be of Outstanding Universal Value.
The Town must submit a complete application to Parks Canada by January 27, 2017.
The UNESCO Committee has identified the Town’s ‘study area’ to include the Niagara River gorge, just below the Adam Beck Hydroelectric Plant; Locust Grove and Queenston Heights; much of the shoreline and historic sites at Queenston; along the historic Niagara River Parkway, including much of the river bank with its first growth forest; Fort George and Butler’s Barracks Commons; Simcoe Park and some adjacent properties; some Town shoreline including Queen’s Royal Park; Mississauga Point (including the golf course and old fort); Two Mile Creek Conservation area, and the federal Lakeshore properties as far as Four Mile Creek.