Two of Canada’s oldest provincial Legislatures have resolved to seek international recognition for their historic buildings as outstanding world cultural sites, a designation that surprisingly few Parliaments have been awarded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. A former official of one of the Houses examines how the designation could become a more common, and fully justified, Commonwealth parliamentary feature.
Mr James W. Macnutt, QC, in
Charlottetown Mr Macnutt, a lawyer and former Legislative Counsel for the Prince Edward Island Legislative Assembly, has writen architectural histories of the Legislatures of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Quebec.
Parliaments within the Commonwealth have the designation. The most notable exception is the Palace of Westminster which shares the 1987 designation with Westminster Abbey and St Margaret’s Church on Parliament Square in London. The criteria for designation of
Mr James W. Macnutt, QC
Both the House of Assembly in Nova Scotia and the Legislative Assembly here on Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) have passed unanimously their motions endorsing the application for UNESCO designation. The Nova Scotia motion passed on 3 May and the P.E.I. motion on 24 May. If the highest and most
prestigious international recognition of a building or place is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designation as a World Heritage Site, it is surprising that very few
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the British Parliament and adjacent buildings was in the category of “human creative genius; interchange of values; significance in human history”. Does it mean that others within the Commonwealth parliamentary group do not have such significance since they have not been designated? The answer is no. Some would certainly qualify, but it appears no initiative has been taken to secure the designation. Two of the most historic and
significant legislative buildings in Canada, and within the Commonwealth parliamentary group, are making an application for the designation. These two buildings are the legislative buildings in Halifax, Nova Scotia,
and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, both known as Province House. In this the year many are
celebrating Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, it is fitting to commemorate the extraordinary reach of the governmental system of democracy currently in use in most Commonwealth countries. That system had its origins in medieval monarchial Britain. One of the most profound, powerful and potent legacies of the British system of government is the parliamentary system adopted in varying forms in Britain’s former areas of political and cultural influence. The designation as a World
Heritage Site would recognize the architectural, cultural and symbolic importance of the buildings both within the countries in which they are located and in a global sense. One or more of several criteria must be met to achieve World Heritage Site designation. The criteria that most clearly would apply is the one under which the Palace of Westminster was