Policies
Map.ca policy

Cultural Heritage Policy

How Map.ca handles cultural-heritage sites, including those identified by Indigenous communities and historic-preservation bodies.

Cultural heritage is community memory. The Cultural Heritage Policy defines how Map.ca handles cultural-heritage sites: who is authorized to add them, how sensitive sites are protected, the relationship with Indigenous data sovereignty, and the path for heritage-body partnerships. Heritage layers are removable by community request and never indexed publicly without consent.

It applies to Indigenous communities, heritage-preservation bodies, Map.ca staff handling cultural data, and any researcher or partner working with heritage data.

Requirements

  • Add heritage layers only with community or authorized-body consent.
  • Make sensitive heritage layers removable on request.

Prohibitions

  • Do not publish sensitive cultural sites without consent.
  • Do not extract or commercialize cultural-heritage data.

Related policies

Indigenous Data Sovereignty PolicyHow Map.ca handles Indigenous community data, cultural places, traditional knowledge, names, language, heritage, and map layers.Place Names PolicyHow Indigenous, settler, and minority-language place names are presented, ordered, and updated on Map.ca.Sensitive Location Data PolicyProtects homes, shelters, children’s programs, places of worship, support services, vulnerable populations, and safety-sensitive locations.