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Area Conservation Program
In Great Britain, the 1950s Magdalen Street experiment of Norwich, undertaken in co-operation with the community, businesses and municipal government, restored the derelict, late Victorian shops and homes of Magdalen Street. Such restoration was achieved without redevelopment or significant expense. Heritage Canada foresaw conservation areas as a partnership with the community, all levels of government and private enterprise. The program's objective was adaptive reuse of buildings within a district/area. Adaptive reuse, or finding a new use for a building at risk, usually involves restoration or rehabilitation of the façade and renovation of the interior. This recycling of the buildings not only saved them, but helped promote urban renewal and heritage tourism. By the end of 1978, Heritage Canada had established conservation areas in 7 of 10 provinces and in the Yukon territory. These areas included:
Area conservation was eventually abandoned by Heritage Canada owing to problems in achieving broadly based co-operation from all the players, as well as the fact that legislation and planning practices during the late 1970s favoured development over preservation. To make a difference in the preservation of the nation's built heritage, Heritage Canada needed to persuade government to enact effective heritage laws. The Property Program
One of the most ambitious of these joint ventures was the Îlot St-Nicolas development in Québec City's lower town, where, in co-operation with local architects and a Montréal engineering firm, Heritage Canada helped to restore two fire-damaged blocks. These co-operative programs paved the way for more broadly based collaboration with governments and businesses in the context of the Main Street Program. Main Street Program
Heritage Canada assisted communities by way of a self-help process. On-site co-ordinators were hired and the community was encouraged to get involved. They were introduced to various preservation techniques such as recycling buildings, improving streetscapes and trying new marketing methods. The program was developed to attract the public back to the downtown areas to meet, to shop and take renewed pride in their towns. The federal government contributed a total of $8 million over a 10-year period to implement the projects. By the end of the program in 1994, 70 communities across the country had benefited. Main Street was considered one of the foundation's most successful programs but, without continued federal funding, it was difficult to sustain. Heritage Regions
Like Main Street, the Heritage Regions approach was based on self-help. A hired project manager guided communities in finding ways to preserve and enhance those things that make the area a good place in which to live. At the same time, residents would work together to protect the environment, find opportunities to better the economy, and ultimately secure a regional identity. There were eight projects in all. In addition to strong community involvement, the success of the projects depended on outside funding, usually provincial or combined provincial and federal grants. |
Realizing
that great expense was involved in the purchasing of a country's
threatened buildings, Heritage Canada took another preservation
approach and created a program modelled on similar programs in Britain,
but one which had never been attempted before on a national basis.
The program was area conservation. 
During
the 1970s Heritage Canada had acquired at least ten properties across
the country from Dawson City, Yukon, to St. John's, Newfoundland,
through its Area Conservation Program and bequests. However, by
1984, due to the high costs of restoration and management of the
buildings, the foundation concluded its role as a property holder.
Retaining only four of the original properties, Heritage Canada
began to work with the private and public sector to encourage the
use of capital investment in the rehabilitation of historic buildings.
The
Heritage Canada Foundation established the Main Street Program in
1979. Its purpose was to revitalize the central core of small and
medium-sized towns and at the same time preserve their historic
buildings. Shopping malls were drawing customers away from stores
that lined the main streets of many communities. Vacancies in commercial
properties led to neglect and a deteriorating downtown. 
In
1988, Heritage Canada launched the Heritage Regions Program to help
develop rural areas. Its purpose was to find new ways to regenerate
communities that had been hard hit by a weakened economy and a drop
in population.
