Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada : Created in 1919, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada grew out of the interplay of disparate elements of public opinion concerned with heritage preservation and federal government policy before the First World War. A growing heritage movement put pressure on the federal government to preserve and develop sites with historical associations. At the same time, the government was looking for ways to extend its national parks system from the west into the east and conceived the idea of creating historic sites around significant historic structures. Government officials also wanted to dispose of many obsolete properties, such as old fortifications or fur trading posts, to which local organizations attached historical value. A government program to identify and preserve Canadian historical heritage was delayed by the First World War. In 1919, James B. Harkin, the Commissioner of Dominion Parks, persuaded the federal government to establish "An Advisory Board for Historic Site Preservation" to advise the federal authorities which sites were of national significance.
The first meeting of the Board was held in Ottawa in the fall of that year. Its six members selected the official name, "The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada," and elected Brigadier General E. A. Cruikshank as its first Chairman. It quickly set about determining the most important historic sites in the country and appropriate ways of commemorating them. The usual method, but not the only one, was to place a bronze plaque on a stone cairn at a location connected with the person, place, or event being commemorated. Where the government owned a property, it often recommended some degree of restoration, as it did at Fort Beauséjour and the Fortress of Louisbourg. Many of the Board's early recommendations emphasized military history, exploration and politics, reflecting the then-current notions about Canada's past. In the 20 years that Cruikshank served as Chairman almost 300 plaques were erected at various locations across the country.
In 1951, the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences noted the imbalance of the Board's commemorative program and recommended that more attention be paid to preservation. In 1953, the Historic Sites and Monuments Act established the Board by statute, enlarged it, and gave it increased resources. An amendment in 1955 specified the power to recommend national designation for buildings by reason of their age or architectural design. Thereafter, it paid increasingly more attention to Canadian built heritage, expanding the concept to include streetscapes, districts, gardens, and urban and rural landscapes. Recently, it was given the duty of assessing Heritage Railway Stations. During these years, the Board continued to deal with the great number of requests for recognition of people, places and events in the various aspects of Canadian political, economic and social history. 1132
