(Communication dated June 12, 1998, addressed to Councillor Berger, Chairman and Members, North York Community Council, from the Chair, North York Heritage Committee.))

I am writing to you in my capacity as Chair of the North York Heritage Committee, a Committee appointed by Council to provide advice on heritage issues. Later this month the Special Committee to Review the Final Report of the Toronto Transition Team will consider the matter of the staffing and governance of heritage services in the new City.

For more than a year, the North York Heritage Committee, along with staff of the Culture Branch, have been involved in discussions with other LACACs and Museum Boards across the new City regarding the future delivery of heritage services. There are two fundamental differences of opinion. Some, particularly Heritage Toronto, believe that heritage must be managed at arm=s length from the City by a citizen Board with its own staff. Others, including North York, East York and Scarborough, believe that heritage is best served when managed by heritage staff within a City Department working in partnership with citizens on Advisory Boards.

Until 1990, North York had an Historical Board which functioned with its own staff and budget at arms length from the City. The Board was dissolved and the North York Heritage Committee was formed to advise Council on both museum and preservation issues. At that time, the heritage staff became part of a City department, continuing to provide support to the Heritage Committee. In 1995 the Culture Branch was formed in the Parks and Recreation Department, bringing together staff from heritage, grants and the arts. The North York Heritage Committee continued to work with heritage staff to advise Council.

The experience of the North York Heritage Committee has been that this approach, with citizen involvement, time and expertise offered through a strong Advisory Body, working with City staff, has served the City extremely well. The Committee has been able to forge links with other City departments, heritage organizations, museum sites and other community groups to effectively further the work of heritage preservation, education and interpretation. Working within this context, we have become partners with the City. It is cost efficient and effective and the results have been tremendous.

At its meetings of February 10, 1998 and April 14, 1998, the Heritage Committee reviewed the various options and proposals. In its deliberations, the Committee has considered three issues to be paramount in the decision:

(a)Accountability for both funds and heritage resources;

(b) The desirability of a strong partnership between professional heritage staff and interested citizens; and

(c)The need to work within the City structure both in order to make heritage part of the City=s business and to maximize the resources (both human and financial) available to us.

The Committee has consistently concluded that in all of these areas heritage is best served by the creation of strong advisory bodies working in partnership with City heritage staff.

The North York Heritage Committee supports a model which ensures the following:

1. That a Preservation Board be established as the City=s Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (LACAC) as a citizen advisory body to Council on the preservation of built and natural heritage;

2. That a Museums Board be established as a citizen advisory body to Council on the management of the 14 City-operated museums and historic sites;

3. That each of these Boards have local sub-committees to address local and neighbourhood issues;

4. That all heritage staff become City staff located in the Culture Office of the Economic Development, Culture and Tourism Department and that this Office provide staff support to the advisory bodies.

In summary, we have enjoyed great success and harmonious relations with staff and, as volunteers, are comfortable with this working relationship. To have a model in which we, as volunteers, control staff without any real accountability would put us in an uncomfortable position, which would undermine the accountability of the elected officials where the authority should surely rest.

The purpose of this letter is to request that the North York Community Council endorse the position of the North York Heritage Committee, your advisory committee, and forward this position to the Special Committee to Review the Final Report of the Toronto Transition Team for its consideration of this matter later this month.

Contact:Lawrence E. Leonoff

Barrister and Solicitor

44 Weatherstone Cres., North York, Ontario

221-9639