The Central Archaeology Group Inc. (CAGI)

Robert Shipley, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Abstract This paper describes research that was designed to examine the assertion that historic designation of properties, under the heritage legislation in Canada’s largest province, has a negative impact on the values of those properties. The actual selling price of subject properties was used to establish their value history trends, which were then compared to ambient market trends within the same communities. Almost 3,000 properties in twenty-four communities were investigated, in what is believed to be the largest study of its kind ever undertaken in North America. It was found that heritage designation could not be shown to have a negative impact. In fact there appears to be a distinct and generally robust market in designated heritage properties. They generally perform well in the market, with 74% doing average or better than average. The rate of sale among designated properties is as good or better than the ambient marke...

Land-Based Archaeology (reprinted from Ontario's Ministry of Culture website) At one time or another during the 10,000 years or so since the final retreat of the great ice sheets of the last ice age, people have lived just about everywhere in the Province. The age-old combination of curiosity and human need has led people into every corner of Ontario, from Pelee Island in Lake Erie to West Pen Island, by the Manitoba border in Hudson Bay. Of course, Ontario is an easy province to get around in. After all, it was common at one time to travel the 3,000 kilometres by canoe from Montreal to Thunder Bay and back during the course of one summer, and the Province possesses a remarkably extensive network of lakes and rivers. An equally extensive system of overland trails was also established over time, and if for some reason it proved difficult to get somewhere in the spring, summer, or fall, it was always possible to move there swiftly and directly in the winter. It is safe to say that ev...