Law enforcers retain title, new designation for rest

Some wardens get guns, the rest will get a name change.

Parks Canada staff were informed Friday that wardens who don’t make the transition to armed law enforcement personnel will be designated resource management and public safety specialists, effective immediately. 

Bill Fisher, director general of western and northern Canada for Parks, said the decision was made following instruction from the Occupation Health and Safety Tribunal of Canada. “They gave direction to Parks that we needed to provide a lot more distinction from a health and safety point of view on who is doing law enforcement,” Fisher said.

Last spring, the government decided that a quarter of the 400 wardens in parks across the country would become law enforcers carrying side arms. An internal competition took place over the summer and fall, and the selection process is taking place now.

“Those that are successful will go through a training program, that will take place this winter,” Fisher said. “Then they will be assigned to places across Canada.” Though the “new” wardens will be stationed in every province and territory, their exact distribution numbers has not yet been determined.

“Final decisions on how many will be in Jasper versus another park, we’re just working through the decision on that,” he said. Based on the 40 current, or former, wardens in Jasper National Park, it’s a reasonable expectation that approximately 10 law enforcers will be here when they’re trained and in place in April of next year. 

Law enforcing wardens will get new uniforms, that will look more like the old ones, from before they were changed, which include personal perspective equipment. “That particular uniform, it’s already been reviewed to make sure it meets the needs of the law enforcement uniform,” Fisher said. 

Also, vehicles will be updated to bear insignia and light combinations that clearly identify law enforcement personnel. 

For the wardens who don’t take on law enforcement, their work will continue in terms of resource management and public safety work. “That includes environmental assessment and ecosystem restoration projects and ecosystem monitoring and wildlife management conflicts,” Fisher said. “Plus they’ll continue to do public safety work in terms of search and rescue.”

Fisher said the change will benefit all. “I just want to reiterate that these decisions are contributing to both employee and public safety by ensuring that there is no ambiguity regarding who’s delivering law enforcement by having that distinct title,” he said.