Meet James Harkin, Parks Canada visionary and Vankleek Hill native

As Parks Canada celebrates its centennial this year and the founding of the world's first national parks service, Canadians who enjoy their country's national and historic treasures might be thinking of one Vankleek Hill native in particular, this coming Sunday, January 30.

James Bernard Harkin, nicknamed "Bunny," was a firm believer in the recreational and health benefits of parkland conservation - not to mention the economic value for the country as a whole - and, in 1911, embarked on a career that introduced to the world his vision of what a national park should be.

That year, J.B. Harkin became the first commissioner of Parks Canada (then known as the Dominion Parks Branch), where he developed the idea of conservation in the country and created a system of protected areas that touched almost every province - including 13 under his mandate, from 1911 to 1936.

The man known to historians as "the Father of National Parks" is today remembered by the massive Mount Harkin, which stands 2,980 metres above sea level in Kootenay National Park in British Columbia.

A lesser-known fact, perhaps, is that Harkin - the last of four sons and one daughter - was born on January 30, 1875, on a property near Ridge Road just outside of a little town called Vankleek Hill.

His father, the son of Irish Protestant immigrants, came from West Hawkesbury and was the town doctor. Dr. Harkin, a keen supporter of the Conservative Party, represented Prescott in the Legislative Assembly until his untimely death in 1881, from a heart attack while speaking in the Assembly.

His mother, Elizabeth Harkin (née McDonnell) was left to raise James and his sister, with support from his uncle (also James) who was one of the area's more prosperous farmers.

Harkin worked as a reporter in both Montreal and Ottawa and later as a political secretary to Clifford Sifton, a former federal minister of the interior.

In May of 1911, when the Dominion Forest Reserves and Parks Act was passed, the federal government decided the future of Canada's national parks would be managed under a new administrative framework. Frank Oliver, the then minister of the interior, asked Harkin to take on the role as commissioner.

As author Ted Hart writes in his biography of Harkin, "From these humble beginnings, he developed a wide framework that was to encompass the following themes: access to all, wildlife conservation, the inviolability of parks, the benefits to the nation of tourism, and the need to promote the nation's history."

Jonathan France, the present director of the historical research branch at Parks Canada, said Harkin was "cutting edge" in his approach to developing the agency - mainly, as there were no other such agencies in the world to consult.

"What we find is, 100 years later, we're still very much relying on his vision to guide us on some of these things," France told The Review. "For instance, at the agency level, we're examining our national historic sites and wondering how we can make them more relevant to Canadians, and a lot of what he thought a national historic site is, is now being looked at through him.

"He saw them as parks, as a place to learn about their history, and that they would make [people] better Canadians - not only get out and about, but also learn about its history. It's interesting to see how little has changed and how relevant his vision is to us, Canadians as a whole, as they are the beneficiary of the treasures that we are stewards of."

France, himself a resident of Vankleek Hill, said it is possible that Harkin's memory could be commemorated with a plaque in his birthplace, this town.

"The Historic Sites and Monuments Board in Canada has, on occasion, allowed duplicates of plaques," he said, explaining a plaque dedicated to Harkin is already placed in Banff National Park. "If the town's museum and/or the township would be interested in getting a plaque, there's a process they can go through to make that request."

In any case, when Canadians think about how fortunate they are to have inherited a country so rich with national parks, they only have to look to a little further past the nation's capital to find the source behind their conservation.

"If you think on it, what Parks Canada has evolved to be is largely a result of Harkin's vision," said France. "It is that we are the stewards of the natural and cultural treasures that really are the very essence of the country. And we protect and present them, not just for Canadians and visitors today, but so that our children and grandchildren and enjoy them, unimpaired."

And the Harkin name lives on in Vankleek Hill...

The Harkin name was well known in and around Vankleek Hill for generations, including Charles Harkin, who gave birth to five sons. Three of those boys were never married, and a fourth moved to the northeastern United States.

The fifth son, also James Harkin, settled in the town and gave birth to Dean Harkin - who today is the oldest descendant of James Bernard Harkin to be living in Vankleek Hill.

Harkin was born on January 27, 1941, quite close to James Bernard Harkin's birthday of January 30 (not including the 66 years' difference, however).

"My grandfather, along with many other Harkins, all grew up in that area (around Ridge Road outside of Vankleek Hill)," said Dean Harkin. "There used to be a few Harkins around, but now I'm the only one."

These days, however, the youngest person to carry on the family name is Austin Harkin, the eight-year-old son of Dean's daughter, Lisa.