JANUARY
The Bow Valley experiences record-high COVID-19 case counts with the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, making the area the No. 1 per capita hotspot for the virus in all of Alberta. Banff’s and Lake Louise’s active case count more than doubled within days to 251.
The Bow Valley was left without adequate ambulance coverage several times over the Christmas-New Year holidays. On Dec. 27, the Bow corridor was on so-called red alert when ambulances from Banff, Canmore and Kananaskis Country were all responding to emergencies in Calgary around the same time. Later in the month, the local communities welcome the province’s plans to conduct a third-party review of Alberta’s EMS dispatch system and launch an advisory committee in the wake of unprecedented strain on the provinces ambulance service.
The Town of Banff makes a decision to drop the town-wide speed limit to 30-km/h and opened up roads to skateboarder and rollerblades where they were previously banned.
New emergency satellite phones are installed and fully operational along Highway 93 South in Kootenay National Park. They are located at Simpson River trailhead, Kootenay River day-use area, Marble Canyon day-use area and Parks Canada’s operations centre at Kootenay Crossing.
A draft area redevelopment plan for the train station lands in Banff has been submitted to Parks Canada. The plan lays out a vision for the a transit hub at the train station, which includes passenger rail from Calgary to Banff.
Banff residents call for security cameras at the pedestrian bridge between Muskrat Street and Glen Avenue following a sexual assault of a teenage girl near the bridge by a man in a masked Halloween costume on Oct. 31, 2021.
A wolf collar recently found in Montana has been tracked back to a wolf that roamed Banff National Park more than 20 years ago. Parks Canada announced Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks found a VHF collar about 30 kms west of Kalispell, which was fitted on young-of-year pup from the Fairholme pack in October 2021. The female pup, known as No. 57, disappeared in July 2003.
St. Martha’s Place continuing care at Banff Mineral Springs Hospital deals with a COVID-19 outbreak. Containing care facilities are reported publicly when there are two or more cases, indicating that transmission within the facility has occurred.
The Alpine Club of Canada is awarded the licence of occupation for the historic Twin Falls chalet in Yoho National Park.
Banff RCMP open a 24-year-old cold case to try to determine the identity of human remains found in Banff National Park in 1998. On July 11, 1998, a local tour guide located human remains on the backside of Sulphur Mountain via Cosmic Ray Road, and despite an investigation that has spanned almost 25 years, the remains of the man have yet to be identified.
FEBRUARY
Parks Canada makes a decision to relocate a park-and-ride lot off the Trans-Canada Highway east of the hamlet in Lake Louise to the Lake Louise ski resort this summer as part of a two-year-trial to try to get more private vehicles off the roads.
A denning grizzly bear prompts a backcountry closure at the east bowl of Panorama Peak near Taylor Lake – popular with backcountry skiers – so the female grizzly, and potentially any newborn cubs, can remain undisturbed during the winter hibernation period.
The Town of Banff is gearing up to roll out its new rebate program for pedal-assist electric bikes. The Town caps the e-bike price at $5,000 for eligibility in the new $42,000 rebate program. Later in April, council approves an additional $40,000 because of the program’s popularity.
A coalition of conservation groups is calling on the proponents of a proposed $1.5 billion passenger rail between Calgary and Banff for environmental assessments, fearing the proposal ignores multiple wildlife and environmental issues.
A vehicle ban on the Bow Valley Parkway that turned a section of the famous scenic drive into a cycling mecca each spring and summer throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has been scaled back. The new three-pilot project will restrict vehicles only from May 1-June 25 and from September 1-30 along the eastern 17 km section of the parkway to allow cycling only.
Banff’s commercial assessment value – which includes hotels, downtown retail, restaurant and offices and the industrial compound – drops 11.8 per cent in assessed value to just shy of $1 billion.
Goro Canyon Smoke and Gift Shop closes down after 40 years. The place was a local institution and community hub as the ‘Goro Girls” – three Polish sisters Roma Osicki and Maya and Ewa Wojnarowska – made it more than a place to buy lottery tickets, magazines, gifts and souvenirs.
MARCH
The Town of Banff decides to fund an additional police officer for the short-staffed RCMP detachment to ease stress on overworked police officers and to help with community safety.
The province of Alberta has hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to do an economic impact study on the proposal for a $1.5 billion Calgary-Banff passenger train.
The Town of Banff makes a decision to hire an independent expert to investigate future complaints and code of conduct allegations against councillors.
Banff is the target of cybersecurity attack on March 19. A team of independent cybersecurity experts with KPMG was hired and the RCMP were quickly notified. Town of Banff employee information may have been hacked.
The first grizzly bear sighting of the year was reported by a member of the public on March 14 west of the Banff townsite. Parks Canada presumes it is bear No. 122, the patriarch of Banff National Park grizzly bears known as The Boss.
Banff experiences a recent spike in serious assault cases and new allegations of drink spiking.
Parks Canada proposes a series of large-scale fireguards, including near Protection Mountain, from an area from the south slope of Mount St. Piran to the cleared ski hill runs at Lake Louise ski hill on Whitehorn Mountain, and between row old Highway 93A, the Lake O’Hara Road and Ross Lake.
APRIL
A single-family home in Middle Springs within the Banff Housing Corporation’s portfolio is selling for $1.2 million – the first time the price has gone over the $1 million mark in the affordable housing program’s history.
The Transportation Safety Board releases its finding into the Feb. 4, 2019 Field train derailment that killed three crew, making three recommendations “to address systemic safety risks found in this investigation.”
A 28-year-old woman was carried 300 metres down a steep mountain face to her death after a cornice collapsed on Mont des Poilus in Yoho National Park on April 13. The fatal accident occurred when a group of five people was boot-hiking up a ridge near the summit of the 3,166-metre peak.
MAY
A Parks Canada decision to divert water from a beaver dam in the Cave and Basin marsh to prevent flooding raised the ire of Bow Valley Naturalist members who feared the two- to three-foot drop in water levels would have significant impacts on nesting birds.
Banff is experiencing a recent spate of rabbit sightings. The rabbit, or rabbits, is thought to be an escaped pet and not a feral rabbit that has made its 25-kilometre journey from Canmore where the municipality has been fighting to get rid of them for years.
A Quebec resident has been handed a record high $20,000 court fine for illegally taking fossils from the mountain national parks, including the world-famous Burgess Shale. The investigation involved park wardens, RCMP, Quebec’s Longueuil police department and the Royal Ontario Museum, leading to the forfeiture of 45 fossils.
The Town of Banff passes a bylaw forcing businesses to close their doors in winter to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the face of climate change. Doors must be closed from the Tuesday after the Thanksgiving weekend to the last Friday of April when the temperatures dips below 10 degrees C.
Visitation returned to pre-COVID-19 levels on the May long weekend, with back-to-back traffic forcing delays of about 90 minutes as vehicles tried to get across the Bow River from tourist attractions on Sulphur Mountain.
JUNE
Areas in and around the Banff townsite are experiencing elevated bear activity with snow at higher elevations keeping bears in the valley bottoms in search of food. Parks Canada has managed at least four bears in the last two weeks, including male grizzly bear No. 136, also known as Split Lip, who was escorted by wildlife crews for part of his journey from one side of town to the other.
A new requirement means all motorized boats to be launched on Lake Minnewanka must undergo a Parks Canada inspection in a bid to prevent the risk of introducing aquatic invasive species, which can alter aquatic ecosystems and cause irreversible damage to already vulnerable species-at-risk such as west slope cutthroat trout.
A draft long-range plan for development plans at Sunshine Village over the next five years is out for public review. The upgrades in the new plan include construction of a day lodge at the top of Wolverine and jackrabbit chairlifts, construction of a second chairlift on Goat’s Eye Mountain and increased capacity on the Teepee Town chair.
A female grizzly bear was struck and killed on the Trans-Canada Highway in Yoho National Park on June 7 near the Lake O’Hara turnoff. The five-year-old grizzly’s mother was grizzly bear No.156 who was also killed on the highway in May last year. On June 11, a male grizzly bear was killed on the highway in Yoho, forcing Parks Canada and the RCMP to beef up enforcement.
First Nations woman and Banff town councillor Kaylee Ram leads Banff council’s first ever Indigenous land acknowledgment during an emotional event June 13. The acknowledgement is read at each council meeting and included on agenda packages and other council committees.
More than 50 emergency personnel responded to a head-on crash near Field on June 15 that left one person dead. Following the collision between a logging truck and SUV, the logging truck rolled down a steep embankment and caught on fire.
The mask mandate on Roam buses in the Bow Valley is lifted to fall in line with the Alberta government’s end to public health restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Parks Canada relocates a rare white grizzly bear away from the deadly Trans-Canada Highway in a bid to save her life. The female bear, believed to be about five years old, was also fitted with a GPS collar so Parks can keep tabs on her. Several grizzly bears had been killed on mountain national park roads already this year.
Parks Canada finished dismantling and removing historic Abbot Hut. Built in 1922, and the second highest permanently habitable structure in Canada, it was removed due to instability of the high mountain slope.
JULY
A 31-year-old Alberta man died following a two-vehicle collision west of Field, the second fatal head-on collision in the area in three weeks, renewing calls for the deadly stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway to be twinned.
A 38-year-old motorcyclist died in a head-on collision on Tunnel Mountain Road in Banff on Canada Day near the Hoodoo trailhead. Police said early evidence suggested the motorcyclist, who crossed over the centre line, may have been blinded by the sun.
A Canada Border Services Agency and RCMP investigation at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise leads to 31 contract workers employed through a third party staffing agency be required to leave Canada. They were deemed to have improper employment documentation to work in Canada.
AUGUST
The Banff community is rocked to its core with the fatal stabbing of 26-year-old local Ethan Enns-Goneau at the Dancing Sasquatch. John Arrizza, 22, was charged with second degree murder.
Alberta Health Services issues an enforcement order against the owners of a Banff home at 321 Squirrel Street. The home, with a maximum occupancy of 16 people, was found with 42 beds and/or mattresses on the site.
The new management plan for Banff is silent on Liricon Capital’s proposed aerial gondola between the townsite and base of Mount Norquay, and high-ranking Parks Canada officials say this means it is off the table. The plan does leave the door open for passenger rail from Calgary.
The municipalities of Banff and Canmore are calling on Sunshine Village to address employee housing concerns associated with future development of the ski hill given the housing crisis facing the Bow Valley communities.
A northern crayfish has been found in one of the streams flowing into Bow Lake – the first time the non-native species has been found in the Bow River system upstream of Calgary.
Three people were killed in a fiery collision of two-semi trucks Aug. 28 on the Trans-Canada Highway near the west boundary of Yoho National Park.
SEPTEMBER
The colony of endangered black swifts at Johnston Canyon – the first inland nesting location identified for the bird species back in 1919 – was down from five to four successful nesting sites this year when only one of one mating pair returned from a winter in South America.
Banff’s quasi-judicial development appeal board has denied an appeal by an award-winning bed and breakfast home applicant fighting to keep running the businesses. The Town of Banff revoked the permit on June 20 for renting an authorized room as commercial accommodation.
Banff is again rocked to its core with a second fatal stabbing this summer. John Sproule was charged with second degree murder following the death of a 27-year-old Foothills County man on Sept. 3.
Two more people are dead in a head-on vehicle crash on the Trans-Canada Highway in Yoho National Park on Sept. 13. These are the eighth and ninth fatalities in five different vehicle collisions on the deadly stretch of highway so far this year.
A new $5.5 million pedestrian bridge across the Bow River – known as the Nancy Pauw pedestrian bridge – officially opens Sept. 6, connecting Central Park and the Banff recreation grounds.
The Town of Banff issued a demolition permit for the more than century-old McKay Residence to make way for a new multi-unit townhouse development on Muskrat Street.
The municipalities of Banff, Jasper and Canmore hire a prominent public affairs firm to help them lobby the provincial government for some form of special status and better funding tools for tourism-based communities.
Banff residents facing barriers in finding suitable accommodation now have a new place to call home with the opening of the Banff YWCA’s long-awaited $14.1 million housing development, known as Dr. Priscilla Wilson’s Place.
OCTOBER
A university political science professor at the University of Calgary, Lori Williams, is worried the Town of Banff’s proposal to limit the number of times a councillor can speak to a motion under the procures bylaw will lead to stifling debate and diminish democratic input. In the end, council decides a council member could debate a moon as many times as needed if introducing new information, but initial debate would be limited to five minutes and subsequent debate capped at two minutes.
An independent consultant indicates it would cost about $820,000 to fill the wage gap for Town of Banff employees to get them to what employees in comparable municipalities are paid. The consultant finds the benefits package is generally quite competitive.
An $8 million planning and public feedback stage for the redevelopment of the east side of the 200 block of Banff Avenue is finally getting underway almost 25 years after the plans were announced. The public engagement phase started Oct. 12 and runs until June 23, 2023.
A 28-year-old Australian man died in his wife’s arms following a climbing accident on Cascade Mountain near Banff on Oct. 5.
Two wolf pups have been killed by vehicles on Highway 93 South in Kootenay National Park in as many weeks. The first one was killed on Sept. 19 and the second pup died on Oct. 1.
The Parole Board of Canada denied dangerous sex offender Albert Muckle, who was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault and attempted murder of a pregnant woman in 2005, full or day parole amid fears he poses a “very high risk of violent re-offending and above-average risk of sexually re-offending.”
A mamma black bear and her cub were killed after repeatedly getting into fruit and unsecured garbage his fall in the national park townsite. The two bears had been previously given a chance of survival where they were captured and relocated out of town – but they beelined straight back to town
A prescribed fire in Banff National Park spread out of control onto neighbouring provincial lands. The Dormer wildfire burned about 669 hectares before being contained. The prescribed fire getting out of control was attributed to strong winds, above-average temperatures and low humidity.
Disaster was averted with the quick response of the Banff Fire department by preventing a blaze at Caribou Lodge in the early morning hours of Oct. 31 from spreading throughout the hotel.
A policing forum in Banff emphasizes community safety and communication as a priority for residents. At the forefront of the discussions at the town hall meeting, hosted by Banff RCMP, were the two murders in Banff this summer.
NOVEMBER
New research published in Scientific Reports shows wolverines in and outside of Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks are in steep decline, most likely due to a combination of trapping outside park boundaries and the impacts of hordes of people recreating in the parks, as well as climate change.
Parks Canada and Roam Transit announced they will continue to run the Johnston Canyon (route 9) bus on weekends throughout the winter months.
Banff Canada released its draft report on the $6.4 million bison introduction program that began in 2017. The federal agency has deemed keeping bison on Banff’s landscape is feasible into the future in a “controlled and measured form.”
A tourism vision for Banff National Park for the next 10 years looks set to focus on perseveration of nature, quality of life for residents, a strong economy, enhanced transportation and improvements on Indigenous cultural awareness and education.
DECEMBER
Ryan Jason Love, the man who stabbed and murdered Banff cab driver Lucie Turmel in 1990 had his full parole revoked by the Parole Board of Canada.
Parks Canada is ending its 10-year contract with Banff Fire Department for road rescue and other emergency services in parts Kootenay national park at the end of 2023 in favour of a more regional approach trough the Emergency Management British Columbia.
Mobility bus, improving public transit and reducing private vehicles are among eight recommendations made by a Parks Canada-struck expert panel to help people get around and travel to the Bow Valley and Banff National Park.
Town council to search for a consultant at a cost of $30,000 to help them build a case for a land swap with Parks Canada to make way for an intercept lot. Parks Canada has repeatedly said no to an intercept lot outside town boundaries for decades.
Council recommends a conceptual design and public engagement for a potential permanent seasonal Banff Avenue pedestrian zone. A conceptual design is estimated to be $70,000 and public engagement $25,000.
Banff’s development appeal board has upheld an order against a home at 321 Squirrel Street found to have more than 40 beds and mattresses contrary to its 16-people occupancy – but agreed to delay enforcement and allow the owner additional time to apply for a development permit and bring the home into compliance with bylaws.
Council passes a bylaw that bans smoking and vaping of tobacco and nicotine in most public places in the Banff townsite, which goes beyond provincial legislation.
The Town of Banff is battling with Parks Canada over a new interpretation of the commercial cap. The Town says recent correspondence from Parks Canada indicates the commercial development cap should potentially include bed and breakfast homes, home occupations and concessions in public buildings outside commercial districts.
The Banff RCMP looks set to get an additional officer next year to being the staffing levels to the full strength of 20 officers after years of being stretched to capacity policing a 9,000-resident town that attract more than four million visitors a year.
