Biography

Janice Harvey was born and raised on Grand Manan Island, NB, and graduated from the Grand Manan High School (1973). In 1977, she earned a Bachelor of Education in Secondary Arts (History) and for a few years taught in the public school system.

In 1983, she took a position as Executive Director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick (CCNB), an environmental advocacy organization, and remained there in various roles until 2007.  During this time, she assumed leadership roles in the New Brunswick and Canadian Environmental Networks, and was appointed to several government advisory boards, including a 10-year stint on the Premier's Round Table on Environment and Economy (1992-2002). As Marine Conservation Director at CCNB, she authored several reports on ecological fisheries management, finfish aquaculture, coastal zone management and marine protected areas, and was instrumental in the tightening of regulations on salmon aquaculture in the Bay of Fundy, and the defeat of liquefied natural gas (LNG) megaprojects in Passamaquoddy Bay. She also spearheaded the successful campaign to have the Musquash Estuary designated as New Brunswick's first marine protected area (MPA).

Dr. Harvey has received several awards in recognition of her contributions to marine environmental protection including the Gulf of Maine Visionary Award from the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment (1993), and the Orca Award from the New Brunswick Environmental Network (1999).  In 2012, she received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for community service.

Dr. Harvey has been very active as a community volunteer, sitting on the boards of several organizations. In 2008, she was involved in founding the Green Party of New Brunswick and served as the party's first president (2008-2012). She has also served on the Shadow Cabinet of the Green Party of Canada (Fisheries and Oceans, Atlantic critic) and has run as a candidate in both federal and provincial elections.She has also engaged in extensive contract and freelance work, including as a weekly political panelist on CBC-NB Radio (2003 – 2011) and writing a weekly op-ed column, ‘A Civil Society,’ for the NB Telegraph Journal (1996 – 2012).

In 2007, Dr. Harvey began graduate studies at UNB, earning a Master of Philosophy in Policy Studies (Philosophy, Politics, Economics) (2009) and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies (2018). She has been teaching in Environment and Society at St. Thomas since 2009.

Dr. Harvey and her husband, David Coon, live in Fredericton and have two daughters, Caroline and Laura.