FORMER ROYAL SASKATCHEWAN MUSEUM DIRECTOR RECEIVES NATIONAL AWARD

The Government of Saskatchewan is congratulating David Baron for receiving the prestigious Canadian Museum Association's Award of Distinguished Service. The award recognizes significant contributions made by individuals to the Canadian museum sector throughout their careers.

Baron was the Director of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum when he retired in 2009 after 35 years of service to the museum and the Province of Saskatchewan.

"This well-deserved award acknowledges David Baron's profound interest in Saskatchewan's natural and human history," Tourism, Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Bill Hutchinson said. "He can be very proud of his many accomplishments and the impact he had on his province along with the Saskatchewan and Canadian museum communities. I want to offer him our congratulations and thank him for his dedication and commitment to Saskatchewan."

Baron started his museum career as a biologist, becoming a curator in the Life Sciences Program, and later Chief Curator before becoming Director in 1996. Baron was instrumental in developing the innovative design of the museum's current Life Sciences Gallery and expanded the outreach and consultative role that the Royal Saskatchewan Museum has with small and mid-sized museums in Saskatchewan. He also played a major role in several other initiatives including establishing the Royal Saskatchewan Museum Act and developing a repatriation and shared stewardship policy for sacred and culturally sensitive objects in the Royal Saskatchewan Museum's Ethnology collection. This policy is the most recent chapter in a longstanding relationship between the museum and members of Saskatchewan's First Nations and Métis communities.

Baron was also a member of the first Board of Directors of the Alliance of Natural History Museums of Canada, an influential national network of museums with a natural history mandate.

Baron received the Canadian Museums Association's Award of Distinguished Service at a ceremony in London, Ontario, on April 13, 2011.

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For more information, contact:

Art Jones
Tourism, Parks, Culture and Sport
Regina
Phone: 306-787-3506
Email: art.jones@gov.sk.ca
Cell: 306-550-5927