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Statement of Commemorative Integrity e process that began in mid-2002, when the FY staff, Management Board, Friends and Parks Canada met to develop a consensus on why Fort York was nationallysignificant, was wound up in June, 2004, when government officials at the local and national levels signed a joint Statement of Commemorative Integrity (CIS) covering the site. While the Statement (available on the fort’s website www.fortyork.ca) is a daunting read its purpose can be stated simply enough: it gives management a more precise tool for planning and managing the historic site by identifying the elements essential to its importance. Of the other 31 publiclyand privately-owned national historic sites in Toronto, Fort York is to date only the second to have developed a CIS.
Approved e next stage in securing better recognition for Fort York will come with its nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, part of a new program from Parks Canada involving both standards for conservation plus financial incentives. e lead role in making the nomination will be taken by the FY staff and Management Board, with the Friends helping as needed. Currently, only privately-owned or leased Commercial Heritage properties on the Register enjoy priority in making grant applications for ‘certified’ conservation projects. An announcement by the Minister of Canadian Culture of the first group of grants is said to be imminent.
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