{"id":"harold-innis","type":"person","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/harold-innis","language":"en","name":"Harold Innis","name_en":"Harold Innis","name_ne":null,"description":"Canadian professor of political economy (1894–1952)","headline":"Canadian professor of political economy (1894–1952)","also_known_as":[],"summary":"Harold Adams Innis was a Canadian professor of political economy at the University of Toronto and the author of seminal works on media, communication theory, and Canadian economic history. He helped develop the staples thesis, which holds that Canada's culture, political history, and economy have been decisively influenced by the exploitation and export of a series of \"staples\" such as fur, fish, lumber, wheat, mined metals, and coal. The staple thesis dominated economic history in Canada from the 1930s to 1960s, and continues to be a fundamental part of the Canadian political economic tradition. Innis has been referred to as the \"father of communications theory\" and as the \"father of Canadian economic history\".","summary_more":[],"facts":[{"key":"born","label":"Born","values":[{"text":"5 November 1894","date":"1894-11-05"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q505528#P569"}},{"key":"birthplace","label":"Place of birth","values":[{"text":"Otterville","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7109456"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q505528#P19"}},{"key":"died","label":"Died","values":[{"text":"8 November 1952","date":"1952-11-08"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q505528#P570"}},{"key":"deathplace","label":"Place of death","values":[{"text":"Toronto","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q172"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q505528#P20"}},{"key":"citizenship","label":"Citizenship","values":[{"text":"Canada","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q505528#P27"}},{"key":"occupation","label":"Occupation","values":[{"text":"economist","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q188094"},{"text":"historian","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q201788"},{"text":"philosopher","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4964182"},{"text":"university teacher","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1622272"},{"text":"sociologist","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2306091"},{"text":"geographer","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q901402"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q505528#P106"}},{"key":"education","label":"Education","values":[{"text":"McMaster University","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q632891"},{"text":"University of Chicago","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q131252"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q505528#P69"}},{"key":"spouse","label":"Spouse","values":[{"text":"Mary Quayle Innis","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q56461769"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q505528#P26"}},{"key":"positions","label":"Positions held","values":[{"text":"president (since 1937)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30461","start":"1937"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q505528#P39"}},{"key":"awards","label":"Awards","values":[{"text":"honorary doctorate at the Laval University","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q51527076"},{"text":"Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3305342"},{"text":"J. B. Tyrrell Historical Medal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1097735","date":"1944"},{"text":"Person of National Historic Significance","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3253120"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q505528#P166"}}],"office":null,"sections":[],"cited":[],"cited_from":null,"videos":[],"last_reviewed":null,"organizations":[],"same_as":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Innis","https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q505528"],"faq":[{"q":"When was Harold Innis born?","a":"Harold Innis was born on 5 November 1894 in Otterville."},{"q":"What positions has Harold Innis held?","a":"Positions held by Harold Innis include: president (since 1937)."},{"q":"Where did Harold Innis study?","a":"Harold Innis was educated at McMaster University, University of Chicago."}],"related":[{"name":"Hosni Mubarak","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/hosni-mubarak"},{"name":"Gamal Abdel Nasser","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/gamal-abdel-nasser"},{"name":"Mohamed Morsi","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/mohamed-morsi"},{"name":"Mohamed Naguib","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/mohamed-naguib"},{"name":"Abdul Rahman Arif","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/abdul-rahman-arif"},{"name":"Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/muhammad-najib-ar-ruba-i"}],"places_in":[],"nearby":[],"image":{"url":"https://diginpl.com/kb-img/harold-innis-44a8d3a37e.jpg","width":500,"height":760,"license":"Public domain","credit":"H. James that is a pseudonym for William James Jr. according to City of Toroto Archive","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harold_Innis_public-domain_library_archives-canada.jpg"},"sources":[{"label":"Wikipedia (English): Harold Innis","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Innis","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikidata item Q505528","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q505528","license":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},{"label":"Image: Harold Innis public-domain library archives-canada.jpg by H. James that is a pseudonym for William James Jr. according to City of Toroto Archive (Public domain)","url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harold_Innis_public-domain_library_archives-canada.jpg","license":null}],"license":{"text":"CC BY-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","facts":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},"attribution":"Text from the Wikipedia article Harold Innis, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Harold Innis public-domain library archives-canada.jpg — H. James that is a pseudonym for William James Jr. according to City of Toroto Archive, Public domain.","cite":"\"Harold Innis\". DigiNepal. Last updated 2 November 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/harold-innis. Retrieved 3 November 2026.","date_modified":"2026-11-02T07:06:57Z","facts_checked":"2026-11-03","alternates":{"html":"https://diginpl.com/people/harold-innis","en":"https://diginpl.com/people/harold-innis","ne":"https://diginpl.com/people/harold-innis?lang=ne"}}