James Smart (February 29, 1888 – July 21, 1957) was a Canadian civil servant. He was the first superintendent for

Riding Mountain National Park Riding Mountain National Park is a national park in Manitoba, Canada. The park is located within Treaty 2 Territory and sits atop the Manitoba Escarpment. Consisting of a protected area , the forested parkland stands in sharp contrast to the sur ...

and was head of the National Parks Branch from 1941 to 1953.

Biography

James Smart was born in

Brandon, Manitoba Brandon () is the second-largest city in the province of Manitoba, Canada. It is located in the southwestern corner of the province on the banks of the Assiniboine River, approximately west of the provincial capital, Winnipeg, and east of the ...

, the son of

James A. Smart James Allan Smart (June 6, 1858 – May 3, 1942) was a hardware merchant and political figure in Manitoba. He represented Brandon East from 1886 to 1888 and Brandon City from 1888 to 1892 in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as a Liberal. ...

and Elizabeth Jones, and received a degree in forestry from the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Americ ...

in 1917. Smart married Katherine Amelia Stewart in 1919. He first worked for the

Dominion Forest Service The Canadian Forest Service (CFS; french: Service canadien des forêts) is a sector of the Canadian government department of Natural Resources Canada. Part of the federal government since 1899, the CFS is a science-based policy organization responsi ...

and then joined the National Parks Branch in 1930. He served overseas with the

Canadian Forestry Corps The Canadian Forestry Corps (''Corps forestier canadien'' in French) was an administrative corps of the Canadian Army with its own cap badge, and other insignia and traditions. The Canadian Forestry Corps was created 14 Nov 1916. The badge of t ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Smart served as Controller of the federal

Department of Mines and Resources Natural Resources Canada (NRCan; french: Ressources naturelles Canada; french: RNCan, label=none)Natural Resources Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Natural Resources (). is the depar ...

and as Controller of the National Parks Branch from 1941 until 1950 and as Director of the National Parks Branch from 1950 until he retired from the civil service in 1953. He was responsible for the establishment of a number of national parks, including Riding Mountain and

Fundy National Park Fundy National Park is a national park of Canada located on the Bay of Fundy, near the village of Alma, New Brunswick. It was officially opened on 29 July 1950. The park showcases a rugged coastline which rises up to the Canadian Highlands, the ...

. During his tenure, campgrounds were expanded in the parks located in the Canadian national parks in the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

, skiing facilities were improved in

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada's oldest National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous terrain, wi ...

Jasper National Park Jasper National Park is a national park in Alberta, Canada. It is the largest national park within Alberta's Rocky Mountains spanning . It was established as a national park in 1930 and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. Its locatio ...

and

Mount Revelstoke National Park Mount Revelstoke National Park is a national park located adjacent to the city of Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada. The park is relatively small for a national park, covering . It is located in the Selkirk Mountains and was founded in 1914. ...

and golf courses were developed in three national parks in

Atlantic Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...

. Also, construction began on the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean o ...

through Banff National Park. In 1946, Smart was made an Additional Officer of the Civil Division of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

. In 1956, he was named an executive commissioner of the St. Lawrence Development Commission, responsible for parks and recreation development in the St. Lawrence area of Ontario. Smart also was responsible for researching and planning the relocation of gravestones and remains from cemeteries in Ontario that would be flooded by the creation of the

Saint Lawrence Seaway The St. Lawrence Seaway (french: la Voie Maritime du Saint-Laurent) is a system of locks, canals, and channels in Canada and the United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North Americ ...

. He died in Winchester, Ontario at the age of 73.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smart, James 1888 births 1957 deaths Canadian environmentalists Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Brandon, Manitoba 20th-century Canadian civil servants