Client: Alaska Highway Community Society
Website: Our Alaska Highway
The Alaska Highway Community Society is composed of municipalities and Indigenous nations and communities in northeastern British Columbia. They have worked with a Yukon counterpart (the Alaska Highway Heritage Society) to nomination the Alaska Highway as a National Historic Site of Canada in 2017 – the 75th anniversary of the Alaska Highway and the 150th anniversary of Confederation.
This exciting project has several challenges, including its geographic scale, multiple jurisdictions (BC, Yukon, First Nations and federal), the complexity of its historic features (cultural landscapes, Aboriginal landscapes, bridges, roads, buildings, views, etc.) and the importance of fully addressing concerns of highway owners and resource exploration firms in setting out heritage protocols.
This multi-year project required Contentworks to defined the project scope and requirements, document Indigenous and modern histories, summarize the highway-building eras and impacts on communities, complete numerous consultations with stakeholders, such as BC’s Integrated Land Management Bureau, PWGSC and municipalities, Chambers of Commerce and First Nations, and manage the project’s website.
Photo: AHCS Historians, Julie Harris and Tascha Morrison in Lower Post. Credit: Contentworks.
