Ian Parrish
Nominating Agency: Ontario Ministry of the Environment

Ian has been described as compassionate, caring, sometimes irreverent, and a great story teller. He has also been described “as true an environmentalist as one could ever meet”. For Ian, the important thing was what was best for the environment. He had a singular talent for building bridges between environmental organizations and overcoming any barriers standing in his way. The result was the creation of a large network of environmental professionals across government and the private sector alike. As a consequence, his work has touched many.

After graduating from the University of Guelph, and working at a few different pursuits, Ian went to work at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE ) where he spent the next 22 years. During that time he worked in a variety of roles promoting conservation. Ian was instrumental in helping to develop the Code of Practice for the Environmental Management of Road Salts as well as to champion the “social marketing” of Ontario’s Drive Clean Campaign. Ian also established improved processes to provide a more integrated approach to promote the understanding of potential threats to drinking water sources across all stakeholders (ministries, conservation authorities and municipalities). His most recent position was as coordinator for environmental integration for EMRB, liaising with management, supervisors, scientists and program staff to facilitate the public distribution of monitoring data.

Ian was widely regarded as a mentor to many young (and some not-so-young) colleagues at MOE . He was quick to recommend a dedicated young conservationist for an opportunity - even if that position was somewhere other than his own Ministry. To Ian, the important thing was what was best for that individual and for the environment – not what was best for political sensitivity and bureaucracy. Ian is remembered for promoting a corporate culture that strove for transparency and positive action. It is these attributes that many who considered him a mentor hope to mirror.

Ian would often refer to people who showed dedication toward the environment as “Good Citizens”. Ian Parrish truly exemplified the term “Good Citizen”.

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