National Conference

The annual National Trust Conference is Canada’s largest heritage learning and networking event. Held every year since 1974, the National Trust Conference brings together a wide-range of people working to keep Canada’s heritage alive: from grassroots activists and elected officials, to professionals, planners, policy makers, and property owners. Conference themes have tackled pressing issues for Canada’s heritage movement, including community revitalization, heritage tourism, sustainable development, and climate change.


Building on joint conferences in Ottawa 2017 and Edmonton 2020, the Association for Preservation Technology (APT), National Trust for Canada, Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals (CAHP), and Indigenous Heritage Circle (IHC) have joined forces once again to present this major international heritage conservation conference.


Call for Presentations – Now Open!

Building Bridges will bring together 900+ participants from a diverse range of backgrounds from across North America and beyond: from professionals (emerging and established), craftspeople, and advocates, to developers, planners, heritage site operators, volunteers, academics, and students.

Conference organizers invite presentation abstracts in four different categories: GeneralSpark PresentationNT/CAHP Student Abstract, and APT Student Abstract, each with specific Submission Guidelines and processes (see below). Abstracts should address the overarching conference theme and fit into one of the five broadly defined tracks below.

CONFERENCE TRACKS

  • Track 1: From the Drawing Board to the Worksite: Techniques, Materials and Practitioners
  • Track 2: Historic Structures Meeting Contemporary Requirements
  • Track 3: Climate Imperative and Historic Buildings and Places
  • Track 4: Advancing Diversity, Inclusion, and Reconciliation
  • Track 5: Removing Systemic Barriers to Heritage-Led Reuse

Find the full descriptions and topic examples here

For General Abstracts: 

For Spark Presentations or National Trust -CAHP Student Presentations:

To submit, do not fill out online form. Email your submission to: conference@nationaltrustcanada.ca

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTSPlease consult the Guidelines most appropriate for your submission:

Language of Submissions and Presentations

  • Presentation abstracts can be submitted in either French or English.
  • Presentations at the conference can be given in either English or French. Simultaneous translation will be available in all sessions.  We encourage presenters to use the language in which they are most comfortable.

Submission Deadline:

Sunday, March 10, 2024 at 11:59 PM PST


PAST CONFERENCES

Take a look at some of the highlights from our 50th anniversary conference, held in Ottawa ON in October 2023


Be Part of the Heritage Reset – Raise your voice in “reset” working sessions as we reinvigorate the Canadian heritage vision, and get inspired by reboot efforts underway in the United States and Australia. Review the Heritage Reset Framework here. And the bilingual version here


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