The City of Lethbridge showcasing a shot from 5 St. in downtown Lethbridge. (Photo: City of Lethbridge)

By Sarah Jones

Lethbridge’s updated Heritage Management Plan to include Indigenous heritage and cultural sites

Apr 6, 2023 | 2:23 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The City of Lethbridge said it has updated its Heritage Management Plan (HMP) to reflect a more inclusive vision that highlights cultural landscapes, districts and areas.

In 2007, the original HMP was developed to establish a framework for the City to protect Lethbridge’s diverse historic places now and for the future.

Over the past 15 years, the plan has remained the same. Lethbridge City Council voted unanimously on March 7, 2023, to approve an updated HMP with several key priorities. That includes highlighting Indigenous heritage and other under-represented stories such as women, racial and ethnic minorities, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ peoples.

Senior Community Planner and Project Manager for the HMP, Ross Kilgour said, “The updated HMP accurately reflects how the City’s heritage program functions today, while laying the groundwork for a new chapter in its evolution.”

Kilgour continued, “This project contributes to the management and celebration of Lethbridge’s heritage. It also contributes to the City’s Reconciliation goals and the continued building of relationships with our Indigenous partners.”

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This updated HMP is the first to include consideration for Indigenous heritage sites located within Lethbridge, also known as Sikóóhkotok in the Blackfoot language.

As a result, the city said this will help to set goals and objectives for the heritage program and formalize processes by which the city will continue to seek to identify, recognize, preserve and celebrate historic places within Lethbridge.

It also aligns with the City’s Reconciliation Implementation Plan in 2017, that recommended the HMP be updated accordingly.

Kilgour added, “The HMP should be viewed as a living document, and as this partnership work continues, further updates will likely be required.”

Public engagement was conducted over a two-week period with an invitation for feedback via the Community Conversation event at the ENMAX Centre on January 18, 2023.

Administration also received detailed comments from the Consultation Departments of the Kainai, Piikani and Siksika Nations, as well as the Métis Nation of Alberta – Lethbridge and Area.

Lethbridge/Sikóóhkotok is home to nearly 30 Municipal Historic Resources, more than one dozen Provincial Historic Resources, four National Historic Events, one National Historic Person and more than 100 archaeological sites.

The full 126-page Heritage Management Plan can be viewed on the City of Lethbridge website.

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