Assets

Parks Canada owns and manages an inventory of 15,233 contemporary assets (75% of total asset value), 2,398 cultural assets (24%) and 1,023 heritage presentation assets (1%).

Contemporary assets include campgrounds, visitor reception centres, roads and highways, bridges, contemporary canal locks and dams, water and water waste facilities, all of which are used by the visitors and resident public. In addition, Parks Canada has holdings in administration facilities, staff houses, works compounds as well as a fleet of vehicles and heavy equipment. Parks Canada applies a comprehensive condition rating program to the management of its assets based on risk to asset, health and safety, level of service and overall asset condition.

Cultural assets are core to Parks Canada's mandate and the Agency is responsible for their preservation and protection for future generations. Cultural assets are defined as Level I and II and are located in national historic sites and national parks. Cultural assets include built assets (buildings, bridges, fortifications, marine works, grounds, monuments and plaques), collections and in-situ archeological resources.

Heritage presentation assets are the physical products, tools or venues which assist in delivering education information about the significance of Parks Canada and the natural and cultural heritage of the country. These include exhibits, interpretive signage, audio visual productions and equipment.

Commemoration

Ministerial recognition of the national significance of specific lands or waters by acquisition or by agreement, or by another means deemed appropriate within the Minister's authority for purposes of protecting and presenting heritage places and resources, erection of a plaque or monument.

Commemorative Integrity

Commemorative integrity is defined as the health and wholeness of a national historic site. It is achieved when resources that symbolize or represent the site's importance are not impaired or under threat, reasons for the site's national significance are effectively communicated to the public, and the site's heritage values are respected in all decisions and actions affecting the site.

Ecological Integrity

Ecological integrity means, with respect to a park, a condition that is determined to be characteristic of its natural region and likely to persist, including abiotic components and the composition and abundance of native species and biological communities, rates of change and supporting processes.

Last Updated: 2002-05-07

Important Notices