James Bernard Harkin served as Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

's first commissioner for national parks from 1911 until 1936.

A former journalist, Harkin, known as "Bunny" to his close friends, was a strong believer in protecting the natural beauty of the environment and was influenced in part by the writings of John Muir

John Muir

John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions...

, a prominent American naturalist. During Harkin's term, resource extraction was prohibited in national parks.

Mount Harkin in British Columbia is named after him.

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society established the Harkin Conservation Award in 1972 to honour his memory.

External links

• James Bernard Harkin at The Canadian Encyclopedia
  The Canadian Encyclopedia
  The Canadian Encyclopedia is a source of information on Canada. It is available online, at no cost. The Canadian Encyclopedia is available in both English and French and includes some 14,000 articles in each language on a wide variety of subjects including history, popular culture, events, people,...
  
  
• Mount Harkin, at www.bivouac.com