BANFF – The union representing Parks Canada employees is pushing for an appropriate mental health support program for national park law enforcement wardens.
Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) officials say the bargaining team has tabled proposals to align park wardens’ employment terms and conditions with the overall law enforcement community.
Marianne Hladun, PSAC’s regional executive vice-president for the prairie region, said the job of a warden can be stressful and exposure to trauma can happen at any time, noting they are the “first line of defence in national parks.”
“If there was an active shooter, or there’s a human interaction or an animal interaction, park wardens need to be prepared for that at any given moment,” Hladun said, noting they deal with the same challenges as other law enforcement agencies.
“When you look at the work that wardens do, the work they need to be prepared to do, an appropriate mental health program is something that was a big priority for the bargaining team.”
Approximately 100 armed park wardens across the country deal with many situations in national parks, such as poaching, protecting endangered species, illegal camping, illegal campfires, dogs off leash, liquor and highway violations to name just a few exampled.
Officials with PSAC say that progress was made with the Parks Canada Agency at the bargaining table in Ottawa on May 28-30. The bargaining team will meet with the agency again at the end of July.
Another big push by the bargaining team is conversion of seasonal park warden positions to year-round positions, particularly because many national parks are getting busier and busier.
For example, Banff National Parks draws more than four million visitors a year, with the traditionally quieter shoulder seasons getting busier and busier.
“While campgrounds and a lot of the facilities are not open year-round, the reality is whether there’s 2,000 people or 20 people, situations still occur,” Hladun said.
“It’s making sure there’s enough bodies on the ground, that they maintain their training and skill. Ultimately, they are keepers of the park and they should not be subject to being seasonal.”
According to a 2017 evaluation of Parks Canada’s law enforcement branch program, the number of incidents across the country between May 2009 and March 2015 was 43,718, an average of about 7,669 a year.
Ten national parks accounted for approximately 70 per cent of all incidents, with more than one third of all those recorded in Banff and Jasper national parks. On the other hand, there are 17 national parks that collectively account for less than one per cent of all incidents.
Over the six years, 54 per cent of incidents related to natural and cultural resource protection, 26 per cent to visitor experience and about nine percent to administrative compliance.
“There is also evidence that the needs of field units for law enforcement services are growing in response to changes such as increased visitation, diversification of visitor activities, and increasing regulatory controls,” according to the report.
“For example, as critical habitat is defined and restrictive protection orders are put in place related to the Species at Risk Act, there may be an increase in demand for law enforcement services from field unit management teams accountable for these species.”
Parks Canada officials say the agency wants to achieve a renewed collective agreement that aligns with government direction and is fair for all of the agency’s team members.
“Given that negotiations are ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment any further,” said Megan Damini, media relations officer for Parks Canada’s national corporate communications branch.
In recent decades, the nature of law enforcement changed in national parks, in part due to increases in the number of visitors coming to parks, such as Banff, but also due to the value of species that poachers were looking for.
This meant park wardens could be exposed to potentially dangerous situations, including armed poachers or unruly behaviour involving many people.
In 2007, an occupational health and safety review sparked by a Banff warden determined wardens must be issued sidearms given the inherent risk that comes with their job, and potential dire consequences such as injury or death.
In response, Parks Canada set up a 100-member law enforcement branch in 2008 and stripped the other 300 individuals, who would no longer have a law enforcement role, of their warden title.
