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Court delivers hefty fine for illegal bike jump, destruction of artifacts in Yoho National Park

“The judge was very clear that he felt that this was a serious offence and the punishment that he provided backs that up,” said Paul Friesen, a Parks Canada warden supervisor for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay.
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The bike jump built by a Canadian Pacific Railway worker who landed in court and received a fine of $21,600. Contributed photo

FIELD – The courts have handed down a precedent-setting $21,600 fine against a Canadian Pacific Railway worker who illegally built a massive bike jump in Yoho National Park, destroying historic artifacts at Kicking Horse Pass National Historic Site near the Spiral Tunnels.

According to Golden Provincial Court documents, John Matthew Summers, 30, was found guilty on Feb. 8 of charges under the Canada National Parks Act, including damaging and destroying natural and cultural objects and operating a vehicle off the highway.

Parks Canada officials say they are pleased the courts recognized the seriousness of the offence, which involved the use of a front-end loader by Summers, who was a Canadian Pacific Railway worker, to bulldoze dirt to make way for the jump and damaged two archaeological sites – the historic rail grade on the Big Hill route and a historic CPR Spiral Tunnel construction camp.

“The judge was very clear that he felt that this was a serious offence and the punishment that he provided backs that up,” said Paul Friesen, a Parks Canada warden supervisor for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay.

“We’re definitely very happy with the result of this. It definitely sends a message that doing something like this in a national park is a significant offence. It’s very serious and can result in some really steep fines and some very significant punishment.”

Canadian Pacific Railway reported the discovery of a wooden bike jump built in Yoho National Park to Parks Canada on Aug. 19, 2019. Further investigation revealed the wooden jump had been built by an employee with the railway giant in early July.

The jump was built at Kicking Horse Pass National Historic Site – which commemorates the highest point of the Canadian Pacific Railway – and Friesen said a historic rail grade was damaged in the process of using a front-end loader to scape and pile dirt to make way for the wooden jump.

“A portion of that was damaged by the use of the front-end loader from the tires and from the bucket being used to scrape the ground,” said Friesen.

“Along with that, there was a lot of trees that had been knocked down during the course of the work that had been done there.”

Bow Valley Naturalists (BVN) say pirate trails or the construction of illegal bike and hiking trails has been a growing problem in protected areas for many years.

“None of the mainstream biking and hiking groups condone this practice and all actively discourage their members from doing this,” said Reg Bunyan, BVN’s past president.

“Typically these pirate trails are relatively discretely marked and with minor deadfall and tree limbs removed and done under the guise of trail improvements or maintaining access.”

Bunyan said this was an unusual case involving the use of heavy equipment.

“Regardless of the direct impact to vegetation and the equipment used, all these pirate trails fragment our limited critical valley bottom wildlife habitat and increase the odds of either displacing sensitive wildlife or creating an unpleasant surprise encounter with wildlife,” he said.

James Eastham, a spokesperson for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay, said the impacts to the damaged archaeological sites are significant, particularly because of the use of heavy machinery.

He said the Big Hill route includes aspects of the Big Hill rail route and associated artifacts, like the rail grade.

“The site's historic significance potential is felt to be moderate to high due to the feature’s age, the unique engineering feat represented by the Big Hill route, and its representation of Canada's first trans-continental rail line,” he said in an email.

The historic CPR Spiral Tunnel construction camp is believed to be the site of an air compressor plant used during drilling of the upper Spiral Tunnel: a cluster of four concrete machine pads is found about 90 metres south of a diffuse cluster of features that includes one house or cabin.

“The site’s historic significance potential is felt to be moderate to high due to the feature’s age and association to the engineering and construction of the Big Hill route and Spiral Tunnels associated with Canada's first trans-continental rail line,” said Eastham.

CP is not providing comment on the incident, but Friesen said CP assisted with the investigation and provided information as to who the suspect was.

“Park wardens spoke with the suspect who provided a statement and gave some information,” he said.

This was a unique court case, according to Friesen.

“This is not something that Parks Canada runs into on any sort of a regular basis,” he said.

“But obviously we take it seriously, the courts take it seriously and because of the work that was done, the damage was significant. It’s just fortunate to get a conviction and to get a significant penalty.”

A breakdown in the court fines handed to Summers means about $9,800 of what he has to pay will be used to rehabilitate the site and take down the bike jump.

“The next steps is to remove the jump and the pile of dirt and remediate the site,” he said.

Following the incident, Canadian Pacific Railway dismissed Summers from his job in September 2019; however, he was later reinstated following an August 2021 arbitration hearing between the railway giant and his union, Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (Maintenance of Way Employees Division).

According to the public documents from the arbitration hearing, Summers was dismissed for “conduct unbecoming a Canadian Pacific employee”.

The company also contended his actions amounted to theft while operating a company loader without permission, which damaged Kicking Horse historic site #5 and the loader in the process.

However, the union contended Summers never stole anything and that his conduct was entirely out of keeping with his history of employment. The arbitrator in the hearing, John Moreau, agreed that his behaviour was not considered an act of theft.

According to the documents, the union maintained Summers took full responsibility for his actions and expresses real remorse, and that he was an active 25-year-old at the time who “committed what can only be described as an act of stupidity.”

“It strikes this arbitrator as nothing more than a foolish act with little or no thought being given to the consequence of his actions,” states Moreau in his September 2021 written decision.

In the arbitration documents, Summers spoke to his actions.

“In order to relieve my stress after work, I have to do some strenuous physical activities and usually that is hiking or mountain biking. I really had no place to ride my bike hard and without thinking of the consequences at the time, I resorted to planning and building my own ramp,” the documents say.

“I did this so that I could do tricks and jumps with my bike, which also relieves my stress at the same time as I am enjoying myself and unwinding from the pressures of work.”

 

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