Armed Wardens take to the park

With no fanfare or official notice, the law-enforcement only warden service was activated in Jasper National Park on Thursday, May 7.

Six park wardens will be patrolling Jasper National Park armed with guns and new police-style cruisers. “Their mandate is law enforcement and primarily the enforcement of the National Parks Act and the associated regulations that go with that,” said Bill Fisher, Parks Canada’s director general for western and northern Canada.

Park warden supervisor, Jim Mamalis, is “excited about the new branch,” which will focus on resource protection enforcement and enforcement directed towards visitor experience. Calling the wardens a “national resource,” Mamalis explained that the six wardens stationed in Jasper could be temporarily re-assigned to other national parks requiring assistance.

The rollout of the new wardens is “happening on a park-by-park basis... it won’t necessarily happen on the same day across the country,” said Fisher, adding that the lack of a uniform national rollout is due to “operation requirements.”

The decision to arm wardens and make the warden service exclusively a law enforcement body has been met with consternation. However, Fisher doesn’t believe that the mandate of the new service is a departure from the historical operations of the warden’s service. “Just to be fair, what they’re doing is they’re back into dealing with our law enforcement and park wardens have always done that ... So that isn’t new in that sense.”

Mamalis sees the wardens as a “bonus for the town, for sure,” since they will be able to focus on the outlying areas around the townsite, while the RCMP detachment will be able to spend more time within the townsite fulfilling duties. Although there will now be two different law enforcement bodies operating in the Jasper area, the two forces will be mutually supportive. “We are always available to back them up,” said Mamalis.

National parks will have law-enforcement services tailored to specific issues and environments. Each park will sign a service delivery agreement with the national office that outlines the particulars of the wardens’ mandates. Although Jasper National Park has yet to sign the agreement, Mamalis is confident that the agreement will be signed within the next couple of weeks after ironing out a few minor details, he said. The agreement will be reviewed annually and can be altered as needed, added Mamalis.

Mamalis was eager to emphasize the professionalism of the warden service and is looking forward to the upcoming long-weekend which will be a “good run-through for us,” he said.
Park wardens in Banff were also issued guns on Thursday, however wardens in Lake Louise are still undergoing training.