What you can expect from this screen — and what you can't.

Groundwork Heritage is a screen of public heritage, archaeological, and cemetery records — not a determination that a site is clear, and not a substitute for a heritage impact assessment, an archaeological assessment, or advice from a qualified person. This page says exactly what's behind each result, province by province, and what's never in scope no matter where the site is.

The single most important thing to know: a “not indicated” result means this screen found nothing in the records it holds — it does not mean a qualified reviewer would find nothing. Outside the six covered provinces, or for the layers marked None below, there is no data behind the result at all.

At a glance

Six provinces, three kinds of screening, uneven depth.

Every covered province gets federal heritage designations. What varies is how much provincial, municipal, archaeological, and cemetery data sits behind it.

Province	Heritage properties & areas	Archaeological potential	Cemeteries & burial grounds
Alberta	BroadProvincial Listing (Historic Resource Values) + designations, ~70k polygons	BroadThe Listing's HRV classes are the regulatory proxy itself	NoneNo public bulk source exists
Ontario	BroadOHT register + ~35 municipal registers, strongest in larger municipalities	PartialPrecise mapping only in Toronto & Ottawa; a water-proximity proxy elsewhere south of ~51.6°N	PilotNiagara Region only (245 locations); nowhere else in Ontario
Quebec	BroadProvincial Répertoire; municipal listed coverage is Montréal & Laval only	ThinHeritage sites & Montréal's archaeological-potential sectors only; no province-wide map	NoneThe one public directory covers funeral homes, not cemeteries
Nova Scotia	PartialProvincial register + Halifax only; other municipal registers not yet held	NoneBuilt-heritage only — no public potential map exists	Thin~6 licensed commercial cemetery operators, not a full registry
Manitoba	PartialProvincial & Winnipeg registers; rural sites often address-only	NoneBuilt-heritage only — the province's site inventory isn't public	Thin11 licensed commercial cemetery operators, not a full registry
Yukon	PartialDesignated sites + recognized First Nation heritage sites & routes	NoneNo archaeological-potential layer held	NoneNo public bulk source exists

Province by province

The exact wording that appears on your screen.

These are the same coverage notes the tool itself shows when a result needs a caveat — reproduced here in full, together, so you can read them before you screen a site rather than after.

Alberta

Heritage properties & areas: The provincial Listing of Historic Resources (Historic Resource Values) and Provincial/Municipal Historic Resource designations.
Cemeteries & burial grounds: Not available for Alberta — this screen cannot see cemeteries or burial grounds here at all. Alberta licenses cemetery operators (Cemeteries Act, Consumer Programs) but publishes no public list; confirm with the municipality before ground disturbance. Any human remains discovered during work must be reported immediately to the police.

Ontario

Heritage properties & areas: The Ontario Heritage Trust register and Heritage Conservation Districts, plus ~35 municipal heritage registers and published Archaeological Management Plan mapping. Municipal coverage is broadest in the larger municipalities.
Archaeological potential: Municipal Archaeological Management Plan mapping is held for Toronto and Ottawa. Elsewhere (south of ~51.6°N) this screen applies the province's water-proximity criterion — land within ~300 m of a mapped watercourse or waterbody, from the Ontario Hydro Network. That is one of several provincial criteria; a Stage 1 assessment also weighs prior land disturbance (which can remove potential), rare landforms, early transportation routes, and the "within 300 m of a known site" criterion, which relies on the restricted provincial site database. Confirm archaeological potential with the municipality.
Cemeteries & burial grounds: A new, pilot-stage layer — currently covering the Niagara Region only, from a municipal records project (245 known burial locations, including abandoned/pioneer cemeteries). Elsewhere in Ontario, this screen cannot see cemeteries or burial grounds at all. Ontario licenses cemetery operators through the Bereavement Authority of Ontario (Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act, 2002), but its public register has no bulk list — confirm with the municipality and the BAO whether a cemetery or burial ground affects the site. Regardless of location, any human remains discovered during work must be reported immediately to the police or coroner.

Quebec

Heritage properties & areas: The Répertoire du patrimoine culturel — heritage immovables and sites classified by the Minister or declared by the government, and heritage immovables and sites cited by municipalities, under the Cultural Heritage Act. Municipal listed-building coverage is currently Montréal and Laval only.
Archaeological potential: Not publicly mapped province-wide — the Inventaire des sites archéologiques du Québec is confidential under the Cultural Heritage Act. This screen flags heritage sites (sites patrimoniaux), areas of protection, and — for the Ville de Montréal — the municipal secteurs d'intérêt archéologique. Elsewhere in Quebec, a municipal "zone à potentiel archéologique" in the plan d'urbanisme or schéma d'aménagement may still require an archaeological inventory before ground disturbance — confirm with the municipality and the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications. Under the Cultural Heritage Act (art. 74), anyone who discovers archaeological property during work must stop any activity that could damage it and notify the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications within 48 hours — the shortest such deadline in Canada.
Cemeteries & burial grounds: Not available for Quebec — this screen cannot see cemeteries or burial grounds here at all. Cemetery operators declare to Santé Québec, but no public directory of cemeteries exists (the one public "Répertoire des entreprises de services funéraires" covers funeral homes only, not cemeteries) — confirm with the municipality before ground disturbance.

Nova Scotia

Heritage properties & areas: The provincial Registered Heritage Properties (Heritage Property Act) province-wide, plus the Halifax Regional Municipality municipal heritage register. Other municipal registers are not yet covered.
Archaeological potential: The Special Places Protection Act protects archaeological, palaeontological and historical sites province-wide whether or not they are recorded, and there is no public potential map. This screen covers built-heritage registrations only — before any ground disturbance confirm with the Coordinator of Special Places (Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage) whether a Heritage Research Permit or an Archaeological Resource Impact Assessment is required.
Cemeteries & burial grounds: A small, real, but thin signal: the licensed commercial cemetery operators on the province's open data portal (~6 businesses), not a comprehensive registry of every burial ground in Nova Scotia. It misses church, community, and historic/pioneer cemeteries that don't operate as a licensed commercial business. Confirm with the municipality before ground disturbance, and report any human remains discovered during work immediately to the police.

Manitoba

Heritage properties & areas: Provincial Heritage Sites and Municipal Heritage Sites designated under The Heritage Resources Act (the Historic Resources Branch directories), plus the City of Winnipeg list of Historical Resources. Sites are held facts-only (no significance prose); rural sites are often held address-only where the source gives a legal land description rather than a civic address.
Archaeological potential: The Historic Resources Branch screens proposed development against its archaeological site inventory and areas of archaeological potential, which are not public. This screen covers built-heritage designations only — contact the Historic Resources Branch before ground disturbance to determine whether a Heritage Resource Impact Assessment is required under The Heritage Resources Act s. 12.
Cemeteries & burial grounds: A small, real, but thin signal: the Funeral Board of Manitoba's licensed commercial cemetery operators (11 businesses), not a comprehensive registry of every burial ground in Manitoba. It misses church, community, and historic/pioneer cemeteries that don't operate as a licensed commercial business — several of which this screen may still surface separately if they carry a heritage designation. Confirm with the municipality before ground disturbance, and report any human remains discovered during work immediately to the police.

Yukon

Heritage properties & areas: Territorial and municipal Designated Historic Sites (Historic Resources Act), and First Nation Heritage Sites and Heritage Routes recognised under the Final Agreements (as published by the Government of Yukon — site names it redacts are carried redacted). Cultural-feature inventory layers are not used.
Cemeteries & burial grounds: Not available for Yukon — this screen cannot see cemeteries or burial grounds here at all. The Cemeteries and Burial Sites Act governs burial sites territory-wide but publishes no public list; confirm with the municipality or the Government of Yukon before ground disturbance.

Never in scope, anywhere

Five things this tool will never show you, no matter where the site is.

Precise archaeological site locations. These are legally restricted in Alberta and Ontario and treated the same way everywhere else. This screen only ever shows regulatory potential — a reason to expect an assessment may be required — never a dig site, an artifact location, or a Borden number.
Burial or interment records naming individuals. Where a licensed public list of cemetery operators exists (Nova Scotia, Manitoba) or a municipal record of burial locations exists (Niagara Region), this screen uses it. It never sources from genealogy or church burial registers — that data is the wrong shape (interment records of named individuals, not cemetery locations), it's personal information about the deceased and their families, and the sites that publish it (FindAGrave, Ancestry, the Ontario Genealogical Society) don't license it for a commercial product.
A legal determination or a clearance. This is a screening of public records, not a heritage impact assessment, an archaeological assessment, or legal advice. A "not indicated" result means nothing turned up in what this tool holds — it is never a guarantee that a qualified reviewer would find the same thing.
Confirmation that human remains are absent. Regardless of what any screen shows, anyone who discovers human remains during ground disturbance must stop work and report it immediately to the police or coroner — a legal duty in every Canadian jurisdiction, independent of this or any tool.
Unrecognized or confidential Indigenous heritage information. Yukon's First Nation Heritage Sites and Routes are shown exactly as the Government of Yukon itself has published them, including the redactions it applies. This screen adds no traditional knowledge, no site interpretation, and nothing the responsible government or First Nation hasn't already made public.

Not covered at all

Outside these six provinces, there is no data behind the result — at all.

A screen anywhere else in Canada will still return an answer, and it will say "not indicated." Read that as not covered, never as clear.

British Columbia — a small Heritage Conservation Area layer (~33 areas) is held, but the province's Historic Places register is access-restricted pending written permission, so BC isn't a covered province yet.
Saskatchewan — the provincial register sits behind a search tool with no bulk public list.
New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador — none publishes its heritage register as open data.
Northwest Territories, Nunavut — cultural and heritage-site information is subject to land-claim confidentiality and isn't published in a form this screen can use.

Common questions

A few things worth confirming for yourself

Does "not indicated" mean the site is clear?: No. It means nothing in the records this tool holds was flagged. Outside a covered layer — or outside the six covered provinces — that's simply silence, not clearance.
What should I do regardless of what this screen shows?: Confirm with the municipality (and, for cemeteries, the provincial regulator) before ground disturbance where this page flags a partial or thin layer, and report any human remains discovered during work immediately to the police or coroner. Both hold true no matter what the screen says.
Will more provinces or deeper layers be added?: Yes — coverage has grown steadily since launch and more is on the roadmap. This page will be updated as it does; the wording here is generated from the same coverage data the screening tool itself uses, so it never drifts out of sync.
Why does depth vary so much even within a covered province?: Because each layer comes from a real government or municipal open-data source, and those sources vary enormously in what they publish. A province is "covered" once it has a meaningful heritage layer — that's a much lower bar than having every layer at full depth, which is why this page exists.

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