This plan helps preserve Canada’s heritage and connects Canadians to their history in Manitoba.
CHURCHILL, MB, Dec. 13, 2024 – Canada’s national historic sites showcase its diverse heritage, offering Canadians insights into their history. Parks Canada’s network of heritage sites highlights Canada’s best attributes, narrating stories about the nation’s identity, including Indigenous peoples’ histories, cultures, and contributions.
The Prince of Wales Fort National Historic Site’s management plan has been presented to Parliament. These plans, reviewed every decade, are mandated by the Parks Canada Agency Act and guide the management of national historic sites, parks, and marine conservation areas.
The new Prince of Wales Fort National Historic Site management plan details these three core strategies:
- Collaborating with partners to share stories and build community, strengthening ties with Indigenous partners and maintaining relationships with tour operators and other Churchill-based organizations.
- Preserving cultural and natural heritage, focusing on maintaining cultural resources to ensure commemorative integrity and provide safe, meaningful experiences.
- Providing safe and engaging visitor experiences with accessible facilities and fortification structures.
The Prince of Wales Fort National Historic Site management plan incorporated input from Indigenous partners in northern Manitoba, tourism industry members, other partners and stakeholders, local residents, and past and present visitors. This plan enables Parks Canada to protect significant Canadian cultural heritage, engage with Indigenous peoples, and offer Canadians innovative ways to experience and learn about history.
For more information on Prince of Wales Fort National Historic Site and the new Management Plan, please visit their website.
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“National historic sites, national parks, and national marine conservation areas safeguard our shared natural and cultural heritage, support biodiversity, and tell Canada’s stories from all viewpoints. They’re places where countless Canadians and international visitors connect with history and nature. I thank everyone who contributed to the Prince of Wales Fort National Historic Site management plan, which will shape this cherished location’s future. As Parks Canada’s responsible Minister, I commend this collaborative effort to ensure Prince of Wales Fort National Historic Site continues protecting our shared national heritage for generations to come.”
The Honourable Steven Guilbeault,
Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada
Quick Facts
- Prince of Wales Fort was designated a national historic site in 1920, expanding to include Sloop Cove and Cape Merry in 1933. The site’s enduring, pristine West Peninsula landscape, largely unchanged since before the fort’s establishment, is also recognized for its historical significance.
- Crucial to the fort’s operation at the Churchill River’s mouth were nearby Dene and Cree families, known as Homeguards, who supplied the post with meat, fish, and handcrafted items like winter clothing and snowshoes. They served as guides, couriers, trappers, provisioners, and consumers.
- Matonabbee, a prominent Denesuline leader, hunter, and explorer who journeyed through the Arctic with Hudson’s Bay Company explorer Samuel Hearne, was raised near Prince of Wales Fort (1737-1741), later returning to work at the fort.
- Intended as an impregnable English stronghold, the stone fort was built over four decades (1730-1771) and is a 17th-century Vauban-style fortification with four diamond-shaped bastions connected by straight curtain walls.
- Forty of the original 42 cannons remain mounted on the fort’s 11 m thick walls, all damaged beyond repair after the fort’s capture by French Naval officer Jean-Francois de la Perouse in 1782.
- Prince of Wales Fort National Historic Site typically welcomes 5,000 to 11,000 visitors annually, in collaboration with local tourism operators providing boat transport.
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SOURCE Parks Canada (HQ)