We’ve already visited a dozen Canadian UNESCO World Heritage Sites in this book, places that have been recognized by the United Nations as having “cultural, historical, scientific, or some other form of significance.” Countries prepare an inventory of heritage destinations, which are put on a “tentative” list. After intense amounts of paperwork, much debate, and hopefully the popping of champagne corks, new UNESCO sites are added. At time of writing, Canada has 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, but our 2004 tentative list had 11 potentials, of which five have since been inscribed. Below are some of the UNESCO sites we didn’t get to, along with six potentials waiting in the wings.
Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo Jump, Alberta: Located at the foothills of the Rockies, the site, with an interpretive centre and museum, bears testimony to more than 6,000 years of communal hunting.
Waterton Glacier International Peace Park, Alberta/Montana: The union of Canada’s Waterton Lakes National Park and the United States’ Glacier National Park is the centrepiece of a unique biosphere, and the “Crown of the Continent” ecosystem.
Miguasha National Park, Quebec: Located on the Gaspé Peninsula, the park holds the world’s greatest paleontological record of fossils from the Devonian period, a crucial time during the evolution of life on Earth.
Joggins Fossil Cliffs, Nova Scotia: Coastal exposure of Coal Age rocks has created the most complete terrestrial fossil record of the Carboniferous period, attracting scientists, palaeontologists, and tourists.
Landscape of Grand-Pre, Nova Scotia: An exceptional example of early European settlement on the North Atlantic coast, this site is a memorial to the Acadian way of life and the Great Expulsion of 1755 to 1764.
Red Bay Basque Whaling Station, Newfoundland and Labrador: The discovery of three galleons and four chalupas from a Basque whaling station on the southern tip of Labrador was a major archaeological discovery.
Mistaken Point, Newfoundland and Labrador: Canada’s most recent UNESCO site is found on the southern tip of the Avalon Peninsula and contains the oldest known evidence of multi-cellular life on the planet. It was inscribed in July 2016.
On the UNESCO “Tentative” List:
Gwaii Haanas, B.C.: Already containing the inscribed SGang Gwaay Haida Village, the archipelago of 138 islands is uniquely protected from ocean floor to mountain top, preserving the rich heritage of the Haida people (see page 3).
Áísínai’pi, Alberta: Located about 100 kilometres from Lethbridge, this area encompasses Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, which contains the largest concentration of Great Plains rock art. It is sacred to the Blackfoot and other Aboriginal tribes.
Ivvavik/Vuntut/Herschel Island, Yukon: These 15,500 square kilometres of protected wilderness on Yukon’s coastal plain was never glaciated, becoming a key area in the history of human settlement in North America, and home to 10 percent of the world’s caribou (see page 432).
Quttinirpaaq, Nunavut: The “Top of the World” is located at the northernmost tip of Canada, with the highest concentration of precontact sites in the High Arctic, the highest mountain in eastern North America, and vast areas of Arctic desert.
The Klondike, Yukon: Encompassing the Chilkoot Trail (page 442), Dawson City (page 437), Native fishing camps, and the Klondike gold fields, the site pays tribute to the world’s most famous nineteenth-century gold rush.
Pimachiowin Aki, Manitoba and Ontario: A protected biosphere spanning two provinces and 33,400 square kilometres of boreal forest, this ancestral home of five First Nations tribes was almost inscribed by UNESCO in 2016. The nomination was withdrawn by the government when one of the First Nations withdrew support for “the land that gives life.”