The CRHP and the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada (a common set of guidelines for the restoration and rehabilitation of historic sites throughout Canada) are the two major tools developed to assist in achieving the initiative's main objectives.

[1][2] The CRHP was officially launched in May 2004 as a single access point for members of the public to learn about historic sites across Canada.

[1][3] It is a work in progress, and as of 2011, the CRHP included approximately 12,300 of the country's estimated 17,000 designated historic sites.

[4] The directory was designed to be both flexible, in order to accommodate information from the wide range of heritage authorities across the country, as well as uniform, so as to provide a consistent means of searching and a consistent form of documentation for sites regardless of location or heritage designation.

The CRHP partner governments are working on other tools through the Historic Places Initiative in order to recognize sites related to Aboriginal peoples in Canada.