There are lots of things you can do to help protect historic places. Here are a few suggestions.

• Meet a friend for coffee and dessert in a historic place.
• Shop in the historic urban centre of your town instead of at the mall.
• Send your kids to summer camps or to participate in museum programs that raise awareness about our past.
• Take out-of-town visitors on a historical walk - many Canadian towns and cities have one. Contact your local museum or tourism information office.
• On trips, stay in historic inns (rather than in big box hotels).
• Go for a walk with your kids in your hometown and talk to them about the places that were important to you growing up.
• Tell us about the historic places that were important to you growing up. Email us!
• Visit your local museum.
• Visit a church - it's probably a historic place. While you're at it, visit the cemetery.
• Go for a beer in a historic pub.
• Tell your friends about this website.
• Work with your local library to organize a speakers' series on history and heritage topics.
• Read a book on community activism and advocacy.
• Do some research on your older home. Identify what's unique or valuable about it.
• Get informed. Find out how to make home improvements to your older home which won't jeopardize its value. Consult The Standards and Guidelines for Conservation of Historic Places in Canada for guidance.
• Let the local media know when historic places are in danger. Tell them about anniversaries and celebrations related to historic places, too.
• Tell your elected officials that historic places are important to you.
• Nominate a place in your community to be recognized as a historic place. Find out how.
• Join an active local historical or heritage society. There are probably groups around you working hard to conserve historic places. Click here to find a group in your province.
• If there's no local historical or heritage society, start your own.

Know more ways to get involved? Tell us. historicplaces@pc.gc.ca