Heritage Services

In 2024/2025, a broader Service Delivery Review was undertaken by the Region and Local Municipalities to address the impacts of changes made by the Provincial Government’s Bill 23: More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022. It was determined that heritage programming would be best delivered at the local level, where residents can engage directly through museums, libraries, and cultural organizations.

Accordingly, on July 9, 2025, Halton Region Council provided direction to:

• deaccession the historical Collection in its entirety;
• disperse the deaccessioned items from the Collection;
• cease delivering heritage services as of January 1, 2026; and,
• work with the Local Municipalities and local community heritage organizations to address any impacts or opportunities resulting from these changes

The approach for this important work can be found in Attachment #1 to Report No. CA-13-25 – Deaccessioning and Dispersal Approach Summary (PDF file).

The Region’s collections management database contains approximately 34,500 records in total. Of this total, about half (18,400) are “object records”. These can be artifacts, natural history specimens, archaeological materials, or works of art. The remaining records are photographs (3,100) and archival materials (13,000). 

The 18,400 “object records” are categorized as follows: 

• 32% general tools and equipment 
• 15% textiles
• 12% miscellaneous artifacts, specimens, and works of art 
• 9% communication tools and equipment 
• 7% furnishings 
• 7% personal items 
• 6% medical science tools and equipment 

Not all items relate directly to Halton Region or have known provenance due to collecting practices and standards common for community museums that started in the 1960s.

In 2020, through Report No. LPS83-20 (PDF file), Council approved the deaccessioning of approximately 8,000-10,000 items from the Collection. Although efforts were slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the dispersal of these deaccessioning items is underway. Staff have been working with a wide range of partners and community heritage organizations on item transfers.