Canada’s park wardens were stripped of all law enforcement duties and equipment Thursday, the day after a federal ruling called for them to be issued handguns.
Parks Canada has taken away enforcement tools such as batons, handcuffs, body armour and pepper spray from wardens. They have also been asked to turn in badges that identify them as peace officers.
And if they encounter any anything criminal on the job — from wildlife poachers to noisy campers — they are now under orders to call the RCMP and stay back until police arrive.
“It’s a big invitation to criminals to come out to our National Parks just before the long weekend,” said Patty Ducharme, national executive vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the union representing the wardens.
“It’s ludicrous.”
No kidding.
What is their new job description? If they cannot enforce park security, but only report it, and wait and wait and wait and wait until the RCMP shows up – what are they being paid to do?
Someone has to answer why these Parks guys are getting paid fairly decent salaries when we could now employ rent-a-cops for minimum wage.
The article says the wardens themselves are divided – with many objecting to the idea that they should carry weapons.
Perfect leftist ideology: I want the title and the juice – but not the responsibility.
Worse – let’s not allow our fellow wardens means of self defense – because we’re not that ‘red-neck gun loving culture like the Americans’.
Well hippy: get another job – and leave peace officers to be peace officers.
Can you imagine a cop in Toronto arguing against carrying a firearm?
So, Why doesn’t The PMO quickly replace the Bureaubots at Parks Canada who issued this asinine ruling. I would fully support the wardens locking the gates and walking off the job for the long weekend if it means they will get a proper working environment. Should they not be allowed to continue under the current, albeit flawed system, until they can get the necessary training? And that miserable piece of shit not wanting “anyone to get confused” should be put on patrol tomorrow somewhere very very remote. typical bureaucratic overreach and ass covering. Instead they are putting park visitors in danger by making the only appropriate law enforcement even further away. The illogic of the federal decision means that parks canada mgmt should show some spine and concentrate on getting their jobs done until they can get people weapons trained.
“national parks to have wardens stand down from active law enforcement,” said parks director-general Doug Stewart.
“We don’t want any confusion in the public about what their role is right now. We don’t want people to make any mistakes.”
Well I’m confused, what is it they get their cheques for?
Photo ops with tourists?
Wardens protect the parks. Most visitors just need a little education, not armed force. Please stay on the trail, don’t step on the flowers, don’t feed the birds, make lots of noise so you don’t surprise the bear, the biffy is over there !
But I would want a gun too to handle the other %0.1 that did not respond to polite verbal requests.
Contract the RCMP to police the parks and fire the wardens. They no longer have anything useful to do.
Gotta agree, its ludicrous to arm a park warden with a pistol.
Shotgun is the bare minimum, I’d go with a .308 by preference. Pistol is strictly dead weight in the woods.
Come on people, these guys are HOURS from back-up sometimes, enforcing the law on armed poachers and border jumpers, not to mention drunken knobs from the Jane/Finch area. Not to mention rabid bears, wounded moose (mooses? mice? meese?) You want to try putting down a charging moose with a pistol? How about without one?
I don’t see a problem. Arm ’em or send cops, common sense ruling. Good job, for once.
A hand gun is a personal defensive weapon and the number one tool of self protection by law enforcement officers.
I look at the Criminal code to see the legal deliniation of who is considered a “peace officer”. The classification is wide. Although it is not really neccessary to arm the entire class of peace officer constabulary, it does make practical sense to arm those officers who have established histories of interfacing with armed criminal or who have high probability of this.
I have some very good friends who are in the park service and others who are wildlife statute enforcement officers. Between the two, it is the “fish cop/game warden” who is most likely to be the victim of a armed assault by law breakers. Poaching brings, immediate property confiscation, big fines and jail time….those who poach have no money for fines or bail and cnnot afford to lose what little property they have in confiscation so dusting a fish cop in a remote location is a vialble alternative for this criminal to avoid being caught.
Prior to the issuance of defensive side arms these guys carried animal conrol fire power ( 12 Guage slug guns or HPcenterfire repeating rifles) which, if used at close range on an armed suspect, would be decidedly deadly to any suspect they had to fire on….the lighter side arm is a practical compromise between officer safety and survivability of any suspect they may have to subdue by force of arms.
Park rangers in the larger wildernness parks where a major hiway intersects their patrol jurisdiction are are as likely to encounter criminal suspects wanted by police in their routine car stops as are police. Having easily accessed and deployed armed defensive capability ( side arms) is certainly warranted here.
What constantly annoys me about this new politically correct nanny satism and its puerile attitudes about crime, law and armed self defense…is that there is a bureaucratic “policy/idealism”, which reflexively clams up like a tight sphincter any time it is forced to make rational decisions about armed defense in the domestic law enforcement jurisdictions.
It’s a craven and confused viewpoint that disregards both realities and the proper civil function of the rule of law….and it is putting both civilians and law enforcement officers as risk by idiotically disarming the good guys.
Just like Canada Customs — where Patty Ducharme was once a part-time inspector and full-time union apparatchik — the desire to carry guns has less to do with enforcement/security and more to do with the desire for a pay scale comparable to that of the RCMP, separate from other civil servants.
Everything I need to know about life, I learned from Noah’s Ark
One : Don’t miss the boat.
Two : Remember that we are all in the same boat.
Three : Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark.
Four : Stay fit When you’re 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.
Five : Don’t listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
Six : Build your future on high ground.
Seven : For safety’s sake, travel in pairs.
Eight : Speed isn’t always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
Nine : When you’re stressed, float a while.
Ten : Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
Eleven : No matter the storm, when you are with God, there’s always a rainbow waiting.
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht BGS, PDP, CFP
Commander in Chief
Frankenstein Battalion
Knecht Rupprecht Division
Hans Corps
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
Sightings of that degenerate offshoot of bigfoot, Subhumanus Drunkenloutus, are going to go way up this year.
…on the dark side, me thinks cigarette, booze, and gun smuggling will go way up this year for some reason. Especially in the Ontario/Quebec/NB regions.
Wonder if the bigwig who made this rule isn’t involved somehow with these illegal activities.
Goes against common sense.
What happens when you give a bureaucrat the option of doing nothing?
We’ve been camping at Bon Echo and Sandbanks (near Belleville & Kingston, ON) for about eight years now, and it is getting way more rowdy. Last year we had a hard time sleeping because we kept getting drunken groups of teens moving in next to us, with twenty on a site around a campfire drinking and yelling all night. We summoned the wardens on them plenty of times, and they yelled quite a bit and got the guys to quieten down.
What’s going to happen now? Are the wardens going to refuse to come and help? I would if I were the wardens going up against 20 drunken guys. Already the drunks are taking over large swaths of our campgrounds. It’s only going to get worse.
Just think, if Noah had banned the fruit fly there would be no suzuki today.
Apparently the parks director Stewart is unaware of the numerous assaults, robberies, acts of vandalism, poaching and various other illegal activities that take place on a daily basis in our parks!
OR he’s just more concerned about covering his ass!
Covering His ASS!
At Bon Echo and Sandbanks, nothing will change. The ruling is for Parks Canada and has nothing to do with Ontario Provincial Parks.
Given the rise in violence and the lowered regard for life these days, expecting ANYONE in a position of enforcement and protection to serve without a weapon is simply ridiculous.
Even though the larger portion of the public they encounter is friendly, or at least compliant, it is that growing number that will cause confrontation that they have to be concerned about.
If they are unable to protect themselves against such individuals, or command the respect of the law, how can we expect them to protect us?
I think we just gave Taliban Jack another place to send the troops.
A warden ( never call them Ranger or especially Ranger Smith) told me years ago in Banff he wished they would ban all people from the park , it would be so much easier and no trails to maintain.
here in Canada , Im not making this up.
So rather than obey a court that said to give them weapons, they strip them of all LE duties? What do they do now, tidy up after the bears?
I would quit, I think.
They have guns but how can they arrest anyone without handcuffs? i mean even dudley doright could do better
OMMAG it melts
Anybody know what the Tories, the one’s who are supposed to be incharge, propose to do with Parks Canada for such an asinine decision?
This is indisputable proof that stupidity knows no boundaries. Who do some idiots think only uses our parks, the likes of Mr. Rogers and Barney the Dinosaur? Guess who also uses our parks both Provincial and National. Drug dealers, criminals with long records of violence, police haters (this would unquestionably include Park Wardens trying to enforce laws), criminals who are armed with illegal handguns that somehow escaped the scrutiny of the Coalition for Gun Control and their fool leader Wendy Kookier. Yes, even criminal organizations such as outlaw motorcycle gangs (i.e. Hell’s Angels) go camping….duh! Park Wardens don’t just count duck eggs, they deal on a regular basis with the members of the public who are often under the influence of narcotics or liquor or just damned nasty and dangerous. These wardens are going to be armed with sidearms for self-defence or the defence of others who for whatever circumstance require serious protection. They are not going to just run around shooting people for toasting marshmellows! For the cut and run cowards who would rather run away from a conflict and find the nearest telephone to dial 911 rather than stand and protect the public they are supposed to serve then go and work for meals on wheels. For the rest, if you plan on dancing at your son or daughter’s wedding, then don’t take this ‘don’t worry be happy’ attitude that puts your life in danger. Tell’em to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine.
Dialing 911 in Banff?
The response time might be considerably longer if they have to dispatch a cruiser from Calgary.
Ross:
Most of the dinosaurs hang out in Drumheller and a few in the Senate.
Mary T.
You know it is the beavers and woodpeckers who are chewing a holes in the Ark.
Corrupt beavers may be subject to keel hauling.
Badge Boy,
You have nailed it perfectly. The only further comment I would offer, is that Parks Canada management is well aware of the caliber of some of their wanna be robo cops. Absolutely the right decision imho
Security problems in Ontario parks are due to the OPP all being in Caledonia.
This is no different than the border wimps-er-guards wanting guns. Once they have guns they will then want to be paid on a par with other police forces. Its simply a money grab.
Horny Toad
Well it sounds kind of stupid, but let’s face it – if any old non-RCMP officer could protect themselves then just how in hell do think the RCMP will be able to fix up the problems with their pension plan? Free gold-plated pensions aren’t free. You have to fight for them.
What is their new job description? If they cannot enforce park security, but only report it, and wait and wait and wait and wait until the RCMP shows up – what are they being paid to do?
It’s called f**king the bear. It’s what government employees always do when the rules say that a mess that happened right in front of them is somebody else’s problem.
Since national parks belong to everyone then in fact they belong to no one, and the result is what’s known as a Commons Tragedy. Ever wonder why you never hear an almighty squawking argument and unionized pissing contest who gets to carry pistols and handcuffs at the dude ranches and ski hills located right beside the national parks?
One should recognize that the people who make these types of decisions are in that statistical category that suggest that it is 99.999% probable that there is a 0.001% possibility that they will never, themselves, be in an area where such confrontation might ensue. They are calling the shots (pun intended) from the cheap seats in far left field.
Isn’t authority (with the requsite pay grade) wonderful when there is no accountibility?
Arm Park Wardens? These aren’t the adaptable, tough minded wardens of yester-year (like a Sid Marty). They are more the nature-loving, urbane, bi-lingual, university educated types, hired through the most rigourous politically correct filter you could imagine. Give them weapons?
Badge boy said: “Patty Ducharme was once a part-time inspector and full-time union apparatchik — the desire to carry guns has less to do with enforcement/security and more to do with the desire for a pay scale comparable to that of the RCMP”
Yeah and this sounds more like an argument in snivel service pissing matchs over wages than it is reflective of a desire to serve/protect the public…typical.
Say can you tell me where this idea that only cops have the psychological make up to be allowed the use of armed defense…where did that originate? Who started this isea of the police function having a monopoly on the right to armed self defense?
“They are more the nature-loving, urbane, bi-lingual, university educated types, hired through the most rigourous politically correct filter you could imagine”
Alberta Guy, I think you have a good point.
There’s more to ‘bi’ than bilingual.
Ah, never mind.
Let me the f##k out of this asylum!