Park Advocacy Group Says Commercial Development Harming Canadian National Parks

A "Glacier Skywalk." Ski resort expansion. Proposed widening of the Bow Valley Parkway. These and other developments pose a great threat to several national parks in Canada according to a parks advocacy group concerned that Parks Canada is straying from its mission in protecting these landscapes.

"From the 'Glacier Skywalk,” which took a public viewpoint and turned it into a private pay-for-use theme park-like development, to the proposed Maligne Lake resort development in Jasper, to a proposal to build a giant seven-story statue in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, the list of inappropriate development proposals in our national parks is growing. National parks are about people enjoying protected nature, not commercial development and theme parks," states a report from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

Most of the projects the group voiced concern about affect Banff National Park in Alberta. There CPAWS pointed to the proposed widening of the Bow Valley Parkway, the opening of the Mount Norquay ski hill for summer recreation despite the area serving as important habitat for grizzly bears, and expansion of the Lake Louise Ski Resort.

"The Lake Louise ski area is located in critical wildlife habitat, home to many sensitive and endangered species like grizzly bears, wolverine, and lynx. The new approved Ski Area Guidelines would allow the ski resort to almost double its capacity and infrastructure, building more ski runs, lifts, parking, a new lodge and water reservoirs, and expanding into regulated wilderness areas," said CPAWS, which claimed that Parks Canada approved the expansion "even though they would allow commercial infrastructure development in a regulated wilderness area, where development is currently prohibited by law. This project cannot proceed unless the law is changed to allow development to displace legally protected wilderness and wildlife habitat."

The widening of the Bow Valley Parkway has been proposed to provide for bike lanes, something that CPAWS worries will lead to more habitat and wildlife disturbances in an already crowded valley.

Elsewhere, CPAWS pointed to the Glacier Skywalk, which consists of glass-bottom viewing platforms that jut out from the Icefields Parkway to provide views of the canyon below, that opened in Jasper National Park in 2014 as a project that "turned a free public viewpoint into a private pay-for-use theme park-like operation."

On Canada's eastern coastline, the group objected to a proposed 70-foot-tall "Mother Canada” statue that would rise above the shoreline of Cape Brenton Highlands National Park.

"The website for the Never Forgotten National Memorial Foundation, which is proposing the project, says the memorial “will offer ongoing marketing opportunities for individuals and corporate partners.” The federal government contributed $100,000 to the project despite indicating that the project will be privately funded. This controversial private venture in the national park, while intended to honour Canadian soldiers who died overseas, is causing much public consternation," said CPAWS. "Many believe the project is inappropriate in a national park, that Parks Canada’s two-week public review process was too limited, and that the giant statue is badly designed."

Public support is needed to stop the proposed projects and protect the parks, the group said in conclusion.

"The recent onslaught of commercial development in Banff and Jasper threatens the very essence of Canada’s beloved national parks. Every generation is called upon to stand up for the public good that our national parks represent to prevent them being degraded by private interests for profit. To ensure that our parks are protected as a public good, and passed on unimpaired to future generations, we need to stand up for our parks and stop this trend. Our forebears did this for us, and it is now our responsibility to do it for future generations."