The Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, including Lake Louise, one of Canada's UNESCO World Heritage Sites. (Mark Blinch/Reuters)
Social Sharing
What do the Pyramids of Giza and Old Town Lunenburg in Nova Scotia have in common? They are both UNESCO World Heritage Sites — Lunenburg being one of 18 in Canada.
World Heritage Sites are considered to have "outstanding universal value," and are of cultural, historic and natural significance. Our current Canadian sites with this impressive status range from historic Old Quebec to the Canadian Rocky Mountains to SGang Gwaay in B.C.
In August, Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna (the minister responsible for Parks Canada) announced that for the first time in a decade, Canadians could nominate new places to be considered for the list.
And now the deadline is fast approaching!
You have until January 27, 2017 to submit an application and nominate your favourite local gem, and you can do so right here. (And heck, it's the holiday break — you probably have a little time on your hands.)
The selected nominations will be announced ahead of Canada's big 150th birthday party in July.
The winning nominations get added to our country's "tentative list," which UNESCO then reviews. Since the last time the list was updated in 2004, five sites made the cut, most recently Mistaken Point, N.L., in July 2016.
Canada's existing UNESCO sites are incredible places; we can't wait to see which much-loved landmarks and locations will be next to join the ranks.
Here are Canada's current, stunning World Heritage Sites:
The Rideau Canal is a monumental early 19th-century construction covering 202 kilometres of the Rideau and Cataraqui rivers from Ottawa south to Kingston Harbour on Lake Ontario and has been a World Heritage Site since 2007. (Barbara Havrot)
The Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks were added to the list in 1984. They span Alberta and British Columbia, and include Two Jack Lake, pictured above, in Banff National Park. (Travel Alberta/Canadian Press)
Situated in Newfoundland and Labrador, L'Anse aux Meadows is believed to be where the the Vikings, the first Europeans, landed in the new world. In 1978 it became a UNESCO World Heritage site. (Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism)
Grand-Pré National Historic Site in Nova Scotia became Canada's 16th World Heritage Site in 2012. (Dr Wilson/Wikipedia)
In 1932, the United States and Canada created the world’s first International Peace Park, joining together Glacier National Park, in Montana, and Waterton Lakes National Park, in Alberta, as the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1995. (Parks Canada)
This boat was used by the Basque more than 400 years ago to hunt down whales and is the oldest known surviving example of a chalupa — a traditional Basque whaling boat. Red Bay Basque Whaling Station, in Labrador, was inscribed on UNESCO's list in 2013. (CBC)
Old Town Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1995. (Len Wagg/Communications Nova Scotia)
Baker's Brook Falls in UNESCO site Gros Morne National Park, N.L. (inscribed 1987). (Submitted by Heather Goobie)
Nahanni Butte, N.W.T., on a cold October day. Nahanni National Park was inscribed in 1978. (George Tsetso)
The historic district of Old Québec City became a UNESCO site in 1985, an honour it shares with such age-old cities as Tunis, Cairo, Damascus, Jerusalem, Rome, Florence, Krakow and Warsaw. (Québec City Tourism)
Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta and Northwest Territories is our country's largest national park and one of the largest in the world. UNESCO it inscribed in 1983. (Mikisew Cree First Nation /Submitted)
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is a buffalo jump located where the foothills of the Rocky Mountains begin to rise from the prairie 18 kilometres northwest of Fort Macleod, Alta. It was inscribed by UNESCO in 1981. (Matt MacGillivray/Flickr)
The Kokanee headwaters here run through a remote part of Kluane National Park, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Kluane/Wrangell-St.Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatshenshini-Alsek, in Yukon and British Columbia (and Alaska, USA). Year of inscription: 1979.
Tucked within the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve in B.C., the SGang Gwaay has remains of houses, carved mortuary and memorial poles that display Haida people's art and way of life. The SGang Gwaay was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981. (Darryl Dyck/CP)
Abundant fossils, unusual wildlife and stunning landscapes fill Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alta., a World Heritage Site since 1979. (Elena Elisseeva/Shutterstock)
This ancient fossil is called a bothriolepsi and it can be seen at the Le Parc national de Miguasha, Que. Miguasha National Park has a remarkable wealth of fossils and was inscribed by UNESCO in 1999. (courtesy John Van Horne)
A UNESCO site since 2008, the Joggins Fossil Cliffs overlook the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. ((Joggins Fossil Institute))
Mistaken Point, N.L., is Canada's newest UNESCO site, named in July, 2016. (UNESCO)
