Designation

Organizations must be officially designated by the Minister of Canadian Heritage to access the tax incentives and grant provisions under the Cultural Property Export and Import Act.

What is a Designated Organization?

Designated organizations are:

  • institutions such as museums, public art galleries, archives, and libraries; and
  • public authorities such as cities, municipalities, Aboriginal governing bodies, and other government bodies that collect, preserve and present cultural property.

Designated Organizations

Designated organizations are located in Canada and demonstrate the ability to ensure the long-term preservation of cultural property. They also make cultural property available to the public through exhibitions, programming or research.

Organizations are designated for specific groups of cultural property based on, but not limited to, the eight groups below:

Group I Objects Recovered from the Soil or Waters of Canada
Group II Objects of Material Ethnographic Culture
Group III Military Objects
Group IV Objects of Applied and Decorative Arts
Group V Objects of Fine Arts
Group VI Scientific or Technological Objects
Group VII Archival Material
Group VIII Musical Instruments

There are two categories of designated organizations across Canada:

  • Category “A”: unlimited designation for property from one or more of the above groups.
  • Category “B”: limited designation for a specific object or collection.