Canadian Heritage

Canadian Heritage Information Network

The Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) is a Canadian government-supported organization that provides a networked interface to Canada's heritage, largely through the World Wide Web. It aims to give access to Canada's heritage for both Canadians and a worldwide audience, by supporting the development, presentation and preservation of Canada's digital heritage. CHIN is based in Gatineau (until 2002, Hull), in Quebec but also in the greater Ottawa area.

In French, CHIN is known as the Réseau canadien d'information sur le patrimoine (RCIP). It provides bilingual information for all its resources.

CHIN was the first national organization to participate in the Virtual Library museums pages (VLmp) online museums directory, now supported by ICOM.

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Canadian Heritage Alliance

The Canadian Heritage Alliance (CHA) is a Canadian white supremacist group based in southwestern Ontario. Detective Terry Murphy of London, Ontario's Hate Crime Unit alleged that the group had links with the Heritage Front and the Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge-based Tri-City Skins.

In 2001, the CHA tried to gain exposure by joining the adopt-a-road program to clean debris along highways near Cambridge, Ontario. The Waterloo Region soon expelled the CHA from the program. In 2004, the CHA achieved notoriety for distributing flyers in Fredericton, New Brunswick on Canada Day. One pamphlet complained about Canadian immigration policy and another featured a picture of a white woman, with the title "Love Your Race." The group has adopted the 2004 New Orleans Protocol for promoting White nationalism.

The CHA and Melissa Guille are co-defendants in a federal human rights complaint for Internet hate filed in 2004 by Ottawa human rights lawyer Richard Warman. The complaint alleges that material on the website would likely expose homosexuals, Muslims, Jews, First Nations, blacks, Arabs, other non-whites, and Roma to hatred or contempt in violation of s. 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. Website content engaged in Holocaust denial, and argued that whites who have relationships with black men deserve to die, that Jews are the literal children of Satan, and that non-white immigration into Europe is worse than the Black Plague that struck during the Middle Ages. The hearing began in 2006 and is scheduled to resume in September 2007.

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Department of Canadian Heritage

The Department of Canadian Heritage, or simply Canadian Heritage, is the department of the Government of Canada with responsibility for policies and programs regarding the arts, culture, media, communications networks, official languages (including La Francophonie), status of women, sports (including the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver), and multiculturalism. It was formerly a part of the Department of Communications, until that department's technical side was merged into the Department of Industry in 1996, forming the Department of Canadian Heritage from its non-technical side.

The current Minister of Canadian Heritage is the Honourable James Moore.

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Canadian Heritage Rivers System

The Canadian Heritage Rivers System (CHRS) was established in 1984 by the federal, provincial and territorial governments to conserve and protect the best examples of Canada's river heritage, to give them national recognition, and to encourage the public to enjoy and appreciate them. It is a cooperative program of the governments of Canada, all 10 provinces, and the three territories. A 15-member national board administers the program.

The first Canadian Heritage River was the French River in Ontario, designated in 1986. There are about 36 designated and 6 nominated rivers across Canada, and more are being added to the system each year. The goal is to establish a system that reflects the diversity of Canada's river environments and celebrates the role of rivers in Canada's history and society. The dream is to ensure that these rivers flow into the future with their heritage features protected for generations to come.

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