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Lately I’ve been thinking about the Lieutenant Governor’s Heritage Awards and why I think they’re more important than ever.

To start, full disclosure, I’ve been a member of Heritage Saskatchewan since its first AGM in 2010 and have served on the Board of Directors including in 2016 when Heritage Saskatchewan was asked to assume responsibility for the Lieutenant Governor’s Architectural Excellence Awards program from the Saskatchewan Architecture Society. Not surprisingly, the Awards focused exclusively on the conservation of historic buildings.

Heritage Saskatchewan had a much broader vision of heritage with living heritage being considered as important as the tangible heritage found in buildings, landscapes or collections of objects. Living heritage builds on the UNESCO Convention of the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

In the UNESCO publication Understanding Intangible Cultural Heritage – 2019 they break it down as follows:

“Heritage is something that is passed down through generations. Culture refers to values, traditions, and identities. And intangible means impossible to touch."

Putting those words back together, intangible cultural heritage refers to the traditions and living expressions that are transmitted from one generation to the next. You can think of it as “living heritage.” Examples include community gatherings, oral traditions, songs, knowledge of natural spaces, healing traditions, foods, holidays, beliefs, cultural practices, skills of making handicrafts, methods of agriculture and cattle breeding, traditional navigation skills, cooking skills and winery, etc. Elements of this heritage are integral parts to life in both rural and urban areas, as well as among Indigenous peoples. Intangible cultural heritage is “traditional, contemporary and living at the same time.” It is inclusive, representative, and community-based.”

So now, the renamed, Lieutenant Governor’s Heritage Awards celebrates projects in two categories:

Conservation of Heritage Places which includes heritage properties  (buildings) but can also include cultural landscapes, sites or areas and significant collections or artefacts. This is the category where we celebrate the work done to ensure the significant tangible aspects of our shared heritage continue to be celebrated.

Examples of recent recipients

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AND

Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage where award recipients need to demonstrate excellence in one or more of the Four Goals of ICH with consideration given to projects that touch on multiple categories. 

The Four Goals of ICH are:

Documentation

An audio/visual/textual/photographic documentation project; this could be an original documentation or a new collection.

Example of recent recipients

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Celebration, Commemoration & Recognition

project or program (new or ongoing) that celebrates and/or recognises elements of intangible cultural heritage.

Examples of recent recipients

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Transmission & Revitalization

A project or program that facilitates the transmission of ICH knowledge and skills from one person to another or to a group. This could be something coordinated by an organization or committee, or it could be an informal collaboration or relationship between individuals. 

Examples of recent recipients

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Integrating ICH & Sustainable Development

By integrating ICH into development strategies, communities can leverage their cultural assets to promote sustainable tourism, enhance local economies, and preserve biodiversity. 

Examples of recent recipients

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So, again, why do I think the Lieutenant Governor’s Heritage Awards need to be celebrated now more than ever?  First, it speaks to the important work that Heritage Sask has done in the less than 20 years it has existed to further our collective understanding of who we are as Saskatchewanians and as Canadians. Heritage Sask’s early recognition of the importance of Living Heritage - the intangible pieces of our lived experience that is so important while, at the same time, is so often taken for granted. As well, the Awards celebrate the conservation of the tangible aspects of our shared cultural heritage.

Now when the world seems to be in a perpetual state of chaos and we are even experiencing the very real existential threat to our very existence as a nation the Lieutenant Governor’s Heritage Awards provide a wonderful opportunity to celebrate heritage, both tangible and intangible, that we share, that make this place we all call home so very unique and so very special.

Finally, if you think you have something that should be recognised and celebrated, whether its something tangible such as the preservation of a special building or landscape, or its something intangible such as a community-based festival/fair, organization where traditional skills are shared (quilting, dance, games, gardening) or a blog site where stories of your community contact Heritage Sask to see how to put your project forward as a nominee.

What’s makes heritage special isn’t that its big and imposing but those things we see and experience that give us a sense of belonging to a community.

It's all those things, tangible and intangible, that together create communities. These are what we recognise and celebrate in the Lieutenant Governor’s Heritage Awards and why they’re so very important.

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Wendy Fitch is a Past President of Heritage Saskatchewan, and worked for the Museum Association of Saskatchewan from 1986 she retired in 2022. She became a Fellow of the Canadian Museums Association in 2024.