Twelve heritage properties, including several churches, are finalists in a National Trust of Canada competition for $65,000 in cash prizes.
The national charity, which works to preserve historic places, runs the Next Great Save contest to give organizations a chance to win money to “protect, adapt, renew, or improve” their sites.
The winner will receive a $50,000 prize provided by Ecclesiastical Insurance, and the two runner-ups receive $10,000 and $5,000, respectively.
People across Canada can vote for their favourite heritage place here until April 17. The site that receives the most votes will be the winner.
Here are the churches that made it to the 2025 Next Great Save’s finals round.
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Dove Brook Church, located southwest of Cartwright in Labrador, Nfld., was built in 1890 by local residents, including Inuit, with help from the Hudson’s Bay Company. The church was used for services and also as a one-room schoolhouse. In the 1960s, the federal government forced families to move to nearby Cartwright. Although unoccupied, the church still stands today, but needs significant repairs. The NunatuKavut Community Council, the governing body for Inuit in south and central Labrador, is leading the charge to restore the church and turn it into a destination for visitors. They also hope to keep the church alive for descendants of the original members.
Sharon Assembly Church is a former Black church in Yarmouth, N.S., that was built in 1877. It served as a spiritual community for Black residents of Yarmouth, who have lived in the area since before slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1834. The church had to shut its doors in 2012 due to financial problems and declining membership, but the board of directors wants to turn it into a community hub that offers hot meals to those in need and a museum to showcase the history of Yarmouth’s Black community.
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St. Mark’s Heritage Church, in Port de Grave, Nfld., is an Anglican church that was built in 1926. The Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland recognizes it as a registered heritage structure. A public tearoom operates out of the church’s adjacent schoolhouse. St. Mark’s is just down the road from the Green Point Lighthouse, a heritage lighthouse and popular tourist destination. The Port de Grave Peninsula Heritage Society is in the process of transforming the church into a Marine Technology Centre, which will focus on the history of lighthouses, navigation and communications technologies.
St. Sylvester’s Church is a Catholic church in Nipigon, Ont. Founded in 1852 as a Jesuit mission, it was built by the Red Rock Indian Band, which is leading the effort to renew it. After it was completely built in 1877, it served as a rest stop for travelling Jesuit missionaries, as well as a venue for weddings and ceremonies. The building now has multiple structural issues that limit its use, but the band hopes that by restoring it, the church can become a multifunctional community hub used for religious services and cultural ceremonies as well as a tourist spot that offers educational opportunities for students and visitors to learn about Indigenous traditions. Money would also help maintain the adjoining cemetery, which is an active burial site.
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Abhisha Nanda is an intern at Broadview.
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