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<p align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#4472c4">Victoria World Heritage Steering Group<u></u><u></u></span></b></p>
<p align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#4472c4">MEDIA RELEASE<u></u><u></u></span></b></p>
<p align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#4472c4">February 25, 2022<u></u><u></u></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black"> </span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">DECLARING CHINATOWN “AN HISTORIC SITE OF CONSCIENCE” PROPOSED<u></u><u></u></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black">The UNESCO Victoria World Heritage Project Steering Group is marking
<b>British Columbia Heritage Week</b> with the launch of the Project website, <b>“THE VICTORIA HERITAGE OBSERVATORY”.<u></u><u></u></b></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><a href="https://victoriaworldheritage.org" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#954f72">https://victoriaworldheritage.org</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="color:black">The Group, a coalition of local volunteers, is investigating the feasibility of nominating Victoria for listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black"> One of the first “situation briefs” posted to the new site suggests declaring Chinatown a historic “Site of Conscience”.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:36.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Baskerville",serif;color:black;background:white">“Chinatown, as a place of contested memory, could be registered with the
<i>International Coalition of Sites of Conscience</i>. This global network of historic sites, museums and memory initiatives connects past struggles to today’s movements for human rights.</span><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:36.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Baskerville",serif;color:black;background:white">“As such, Chinatown’s presence in Victoria’s Old Town, and its interpretation, could promote reconciliation after deeply dividing events
by “turning the page”. Erasing the past can prevent new generations from learning critical lessons. It can also compromise opportunities to build a peaceful future”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black"> A major focus of the Group is examining the exclusionary nature of Victoria’s standard heritage narrative. Only recently have we begun to seriously recognize the role of First Peoples in
the founding and early development stories of the region. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black"> Two other papers released on the Observatory website explore the significance of Victoria’s geological and natural habitat histories.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black"> Some thirty more Briefs are in preparation and planned for release shortly.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black"> The intent of the <i>Observatory</i> is to monitor the state of heritage conservation in Victoria, as well as track developments within the Project itself.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black"> Other components of the website explain the nature of the UNESCO nomination project. It also provides a list of resources to support a re-examination of what heritage means to the local
community. Another feature is a “Dashboard” of significant facts on the region’s heritage industries.
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black"> “An eventual objective might be provision of a forum for discussion on heritage topics of local critical interest” said Martin Segger, the acting coordinator of the group. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"> -30-<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.5pt;color:#4472c4">Martin Segger, Co-ordinator <i>pro tem</i></span></b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">,
</span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.5pt;color:#4472c4">Victoria World Heritage Steering Group</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black"> </span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.5pt;color:#4472c4">Contact:
<a href="mailto:msegger@uvic.ca" target="_blank">msegger@uvic.ca</a></span></b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#4472c4">We acknowledge and respect the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples on whose traditional territory we stand, and the Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples whose historical relationships with the land
continue to this day.</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:black"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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