List of national parks of Canada

This article is about the park system administered by the Government of Canada. For a list of provincial parks in Quebec (called “national parks” by that province), see National Parks of Quebec § List of national parks in Quebec.

Parks in Canada's provinces and territories
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Canada's national parks are protected areas under the Canada National Parks Act, owned by the Government of Canada and administered for the benefit, education, and enjoyment of the people of Canada and its future generations.[1] National parks are administered by Parks Canada, a Crown agency operating under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. The goal of the national parks system is to set aside lands representing the country's 39 distinct natural regions described in the National Parks System Plan, primarily to protect the ecological integrity of the land, and secondarily to allow the public to explore, learn about and enjoy Canada's natural spaces.[2]

Canada's first national park was created in 1885 through an Order-in-Council[3] to reserve 26 km2 (10 sq mi) over the Cave and Basin Hot Springs to prevent the land from being sold for private development despite claims being made for it. Modelled after the American experience with Yellowstone National Park, the Rocky Mountains Park Act, adopted in 1887, established the Rocky Mountains Park (now Banff National Park).[4] The idea of a national park was popular and led to numerous proposals for the Ministry of the Interior to consider, including additional sites along the Canadian Pacific Railway (e.g. Yoho and Glacier and an expansion of Banff) and the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (e.g. Jasper). In 1911 the Rocky Mountains Park Act was replaced by the Dominion Forest Reserves and Parks Act which created the world's first National Park Service, the Dominion Parks Branch, to administer national parks in Canada.[5] These early national parks, including those established under the leadership of JB Harkin who was the first commissioner of the Dominion Parks Branch, were set aside to reserve lands principally for tourism and conservation but also had an exclusionary policy prohibiting First Nations peoples from using their traditional lands within the new parks.[6] In 1922, Wood Buffalo National Park was the first to allow traditional indigenous activities to continue. In 1972, Parks Canada defined national park reserves as lands administered by the agency intended to become national parks pending settlement of indigenous land rights and agreements for continued traditional use of the lands.[7][8]

As of July 2024, there are 37 national parks and 11 national park reserves, covering an area of approximately 343,377 km2 (132,579 sq mi),[9] or about 3.3% of the total land area of Canada, and representing 31 of its 39 natural regions. There is at least one park located in every one of the nation's 13 provinces and territories. Parks Canada reported attendance of 15,449,249 at all national parks and reserves in 2016–17, including over four million visits to the busiest park (Banff) and only two persons at the least-visited park (Tuktut Nogait).[10] Parks Canada additionally manages three National Marine Conservation Areas (NMCAs), a single NMCA Reserve, and the country's lone National Landmark. The Canada National Parks Act also allows for recognition of National Historic Sites that commemorate events, landmarks, or objects of national importance, and which may include similar levels of protection and administration as national parks.[1] Feasibility studies are underway to establish further national parks in unrepresented regions.[11]

  1. ^ a b Canada National Parks Act, S.C. 2000, c. 32 (Canada National Parks Act at Justice Laws Website)
  2. ^ "National Parks of Canada – Introduction". Parks Canada. 23 May 2017. Archived from the original on 6 April 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  3. ^ An act further to amend and to consolidate, as so amended, the several Acts respecting the Public Lands of the Dominion therein mentioned, P.C. 1885, c. 17, s. 26[dead link‍]
  4. ^ Lothian, W.F. (1981). A Brief History of Canada's National Parks (PDF). Environment Canada. ISBN 0-662-15217-4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 January 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  5. ^ Irish, Paul (13 May 2011). "Parks Canada celebrates a century of discovery". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  6. ^ Binnema, Theodore; Niemi, Melanie (2006). "'Let the line be drawn now': Wilderness, Conservation, and the Exclusion of Aboriginal People from Banff National Park in Canada". Environmental History. 11 (4): 724–50. doi:10.1093/envhis/11.4.724.
  7. ^ Joseph, Bob (13 March 2015). "Can First Nations hunt in national parks?". Indigenous Corporate Training. Archived from the original on 25 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  8. ^ "Indigenous fact sheet". Parks Canada. 23 June 2017. Archived from the original on 11 December 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  9. ^ "National Parks". Government of Canada. 4 July 2024. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
  10. ^ "Parks Canada Attendance 2016–17". Parks Canada. 11 September 2017. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  11. ^ "Creating new national parks". Parks Canada. Archived from the original on 11 December 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017.