![\"Park](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1793458095_367_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\nParks Canada is closing at least 13 warden detachments and prioritizing a regional service for law enforcement, according to multiple sources.<\/p>\n
Detachments will be closing in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Yukon and Northwest Territories.<\/p>\n
The number of wardens impacted by the decision is unknown, but CBC News has learned at least a dozen positions will be cut. Some detachments, such as Banff and Jasper, will each lose one warden, multiple sources told CBC News.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re deeply concerned what that looks like. These aren\u2019t just administrative changes,” said Krysty Thomas, regional executive vice-president for Public Service Alliance of Canada\u2019s Prairies region.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re talking about highly trained officers who play an important role in protecting our national parks, enforcing environmental laws and providing critical support to other employees working in the field.”<\/p>\n
These changes come amidst $145 million in cuts to Parks Canada over the next three years.<\/p>\n
Parks Canada acting CEO and vice-president of transformation Andrew Campbell wrote in an Oct. 20 email to staff that 2,917 letters went out to employees to let them know they could move to new jobs or be let go. Thomas said the union has been told Parks Canada plans to cut 517 full-time jobs.<\/p>\n
Among the detachments closing will be Kluane National Park in Yukon, Kejimkujik National Park in Nova Scotia, Elk Island National Park in Alberta and Point Pelee National Park in Ontario. Others are Gulf Islands National Park Reserve in British Columbia, Fundy National Park in New Brunswick and Nahanni National Park Reserve in Northwest Territories.<\/p>\n
A new regional system will have 85 total wardens spread over western, central, eastern and northern Canada, and the Rockies.<\/p>\n
Thomas said PSAC wants to hear how Parks Canada will \u201cmaintain these important services with fewer people in fewer locations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meaghan Bradley, a spokesperson in Parks Canada\u2019s national communications office, told CBC News the federal agency is \u201cmodernizing its law enforcement model by redistributing capacity to focus on areas of highest priority and risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bradley didn\u2019t acknowledge the number of wardens being let go, but said \u201csome detachments are being consolidated into higher-need areas\u201d and “adopting a more intelligence-driven approach to enforcement,” including adding three regional intelligence co-ordinator positions.<\/p>\n
CBC News reached out via email to the leadership team in charge of the decision-making for the cuts. Campbell, executive director of transformation Hugues Michaud, transformation communications St\u00e9phane Rondeau and senior strategic adviser Laurie Wein didn’t get back to CBC News.<\/p>\n
Multiple other requests for interviews were also declined.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some of the 34 national park wardens who received the Peace Officer Exemplary Service Medal in Banff on Oct. 21, 2025. (Parks Canada)<\/p>\n
‘You just get burned out’<\/p>\n
When a detachment in a national park is closed, it means there’s no on-the-ground law enforcement. The new system will rely on bringing in regional wardens to enforce federal law.<\/p>\n
Mike Henderson was a warden in the Canadian Rockies for more than 30 years until retiring in 2022. He said a regional plan could contribute to staff burnout, especially if they\u2019re thinly stretched to cover vast territories.<\/p>\n
If a warden in the Lake Louise, Yoho, Kootenay field unit were to get a call on the Icefields Parkway, for instance, it could take more than half a shift to respond and get to another call, Henderson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re relying on the bigger national parks to fill the holes required in smaller national parks, you\u2019re still pulling somebody from a bigger place,\u201d he said. \u201cYou still don\u2019t have enough staff. It\u2019s not really a Band-Aid solution. It\u2019s a way to muddle your way through.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted the majority of warden work is a one-person job in remote areas \u2014 a mixture of front country and back country work.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou go to these calls and you know you\u2019re by yourself. \u2026 You just get burned out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the weird thing with wardening: it\u2019s pretty smooth sailing until it \u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas said \u201cone of the most troubling things they\u2019re hearing\u201d is staff may be without backup in remote locations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorker safety cannot be an afterthought in the workforce reduction exercise,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1793458095_976_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The former warden cabin near the Iceline Trail in Yoho National Park on Oct. 4, 2026. (Greg Colgan\/CBC)<\/p>\n
‘Parks Canada has a responsibility to protect these places for future generations’<\/p>\n
Parks Canada\u2019s executive director of conservation Tamaini Snaith presented the changes in an Oct. 22 virtual meeting with wardens across the country, according to multiple sources.<\/p>\n
Multiple sources told CBC News that people in some of the positions being cut will be offered roles in the new regional enforcement areas. <\/p>\n