Passionate Vision: Discovering Canada's National Parks

William A. Waiser is a professor of history at the University of
Saskatchewan. He is the author of Saskatchewan’s Playground: A History
of Prince Albert National Park and Park Prisoners: The Untold Story of
Western Canada’s National Parks, 1915–1946

Passionate Vision, Roberta Bondar’s photographic tribute to Canada’s
national parks, was the subject of considerable controversy when it was
first announced that Canada’s first woman in space had been given a
hefty grant to take pictures of places like Banff and Yoho. But Bondar,
a neurologist by training, is quite skilled with the camera—she knows
how to read the light—and has produced, on the whole, a visually
stunning tribute to Canada’s special places. The 111 plates feature 41
national parks, reserves, and marine parks—in all seasons and all
moods.

In her introduction, Bondar explains how her brief time in space gave
her a new appreciation of Earth and how she wanted to find a way of
expressing her new feelings and reach out to other Canadians at the same
time. “The idea of loving the land before wanting to protect it,”
she confesses, “appealed to me.” Passionate Vision is her way of
getting Canadians to respect the land; the collection, in Bondar’s
words, “reflects a Canada that lives in our hearts.”

Nevertheless, according to a recent federal report on the state of
Canada’s national parks, Canadians may love their national parks, but
they are not doing nearly enough to protect them for future generations.
The parks are under severe stress, and unless the Canadian government
responds to the crisis—and soon—then this splendid pictorial essay
will have historical, not contemporary, value.