Today, ICBA submitted a formal response to the provincial government’s proposed changes to the Heritage Conservation Act (HCA) through the Heritage Conservation Act Transformation Project (HCATP) – we are deeply concerned about what these changes could mean for housing, infrastructure, and B.C.’s economy.
While ICBA strongly supports protecting and conserving B.C.’s cultural heritage, the current proposals would add massive complexity, delays, and costs to a permitting system that is already struggling.
Among our key concerns:
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Permitting delays: Archaeological Impact Assessments already take up to a year to process. Adding more obligations will worsen the housing crisis by slowing projects and driving up costs.
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“Intangible heritage”: Expanding the Act to cover non-physical concepts like stories or traditions is unworkable and would lead to endless conflict and litigation.
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Flawed consultation: The government’s survey is biased, and key stakeholders – including municipalities – have been kept in the dark, forced to sign NDAs, and excluded from meaningful consultation.
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Building impact: These proposals will make it harder, slower, and more expensive to build in B.C.
We’ve urged the government to rethink these proposals and focus on practical solutions: streamlining permitting, rejecting intangible heritage as a regulatory trigger, ensuring transparency, and balancing cultural protection with urgent housing and infrastructure needs.
Read ICBA’s full submission HERE.
