James B. Harkin - Controversy

Controversy

Before the 1970s, Harkin was viewed as a visionary conservationist and creator of Canada’s national park system. Since then, many critiques of Harkin have cast him in a darker light. When Harkin was appointed National Parks Branch Commissioner in 1911, he had to juggle the twin policy of advocating conservatism while encouraging tourism to the parks, which brought forth controversy to Harkin’s role as commissioner. When Harkin accepted the job, he admitted that he knew little about parks in general or what was expected of him in his role as commissioner. Many biographers have written about Harkin’s work, but his life is based on a very thin collection of sources, leading to skepticism about his duty and achievements as commissioner. Harkin’s personal archival papers say little about his involvement with the national parks; they focus almost entirely on his notes and correspondence on Vilhjalmur Stefansson’s expedition to the Arctic in 1921. The limited information about Harkin’s life has led biographers to create several sizable assumptions about him, one being that everything wrote by Harkin is credited to him alone. Parks Branch papers show that what is attributed to Harkin was actually first drafted by others, especially his assistant, F.H.H. Williamson. Harkin also adapted many of his policies from the American National Park Service, because of the familiarity of geographic location and goal at improving the development of the parks through tourism.