The federal government is getting involved with the provincial governments for the first time ever to help preserve the country's historic places, which may benefit such facilities as the Souris Valley Extended Care Centre. Part of that effort will be a new on-line registry of historic places, to be launched soon.

Representatives of municipalities and historical societies met in Weyburn on Thursday afternoon to hear information about the new Historic Places Initiative, which will place all recognized heritage properties on a national register, according to the first national standards ever drawn up for heritage properties.

Saskatchewan has had a Heritage Property Act since 1980, under which a building or site can be designated a provincial or municipal heritage property. The act provides for the preservation, interpretation and development of the province's heritage properties, said provincial heritage architect Bernie Flaman.

He explained a site doesn't have to be old to be so designated, but has to have a documented historical significance, whether locally or provincially.

"I face this question almost every day, what does it mean to be designated a heritage property. Both levels provide legal protection," said Flaman, noting there are over 710 municipal heritage properties, and 37 provincial ones, including Weyburn's courthouse.

Under the Historic Places Initiative, these legally designated properties can be placed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places, which will soon have a searchable data base on the Internet, with a comprehensive listing.

Flaman said any person or group can nominate a property for either municipal or provincial designation, with provincial ones needing to be significant to the province as a whole with documented history of its importance.

Asked about Souris Valley Extended Care Centre, Flaman said as it's owned by the Saskatchewan Property Management Corporation (SPMC), it provides for a special circumstance that he runs into with other facilities: one, where the owner is reluctant to have it designated, it's very difficult to do so; and two, there is the economic question of how to preserve the property in question and who will pay for it.

For this reason, many properties exist in rural areas that could designated as historical, but the owners are reluctant, often due to the possible cost of upkeeping the property or fixing it.

Flaman notes SPMC owns 13 of the province's 37 provincial heritage properties.

Under the new federal initiative, there are standards and guidelines for the conservation of historic places, and there is a federal financial incentive program to preserve historic places, but only as long as the property meets the criteria as a designated historic property. In the 2003-04 budget, the government set aside $30 million over three years for the preservation of historic places.

Going along with the efforts to find a viable alternate use for Souris Valley, and to have it marketed, the Initiative also encourages private sector investment in heritage conservation as part of business development.

Part of the reason for the Initiative is that 21 per cent of Canada's historic buildings have been lost in the last 30 years, largely because a program like the Initiative hasn't been in place up until now.

MP Roy Bailey sat in on the meeting, noting his riding has the province's oldest standing grain elevators at Fleming. He said he fears his grandchildren may lose many of the properties which now exist unless they're taken care of.

Flaman agreed, explaining, "It's very difficult to achieve a designation if the owner is unwilling to designate it. The minister can do it, but that part of the Heritage Act has never been tested."

He added that in comparison to many other provinces, Saskatchewan is actually "well-positioned" to preserve its historic places, and said, "What's going on in other provinces is dismal. We're not the oldest province, but the settlement of this province is very interesting," said Flaman.

It is estimated when the national register is fully operational, there will be an estimated 20,000 historic sites across the province.