Job slashes branded ‘incredibly disappointing’
The Yukon can expect to lose about 27 per cent of its Parks Canada staff by next summer, as more federal job cuts were announced this week.
The Yukon can expect to lose about 27 per cent of its Parks Canada staff by next summer, as more federal job cuts were announced this week.
Parks Canada has roughly 110 employees in the Yukon. Thirty of those positions will be cut by the summer of 2013.
Nationally, the department will slash 1,689 positions.
Anne Morin, the field unit superintendent for the Yukon, said “for the vast majority of visitors, the visitors themselves will see minimal differences when they visit our iconic places.”
But there will be some changes to services offered at historic sites around the territory as the staff level is reduced.
In Whitehorse, the SS Klondike National Historic Site will no longer provide guided tours, offering self-guided tours instead. There will also be basic service at the visitor centre, she said. The historic video will continue to be offered to visitors.
In Kluane National Park and Reserve, winter services, including winter camping at the Kathleen Lake Campground and ski track setting, will no longer be offered.
Search and rescue capacity in Kluane will also be cut back, but Morin said Parks Canada will continue to provide visitor safety information on accident protection.
Just outside of Dawson City, the Dredge No. 4 National Historic Site will no longer feature guided tours. Starting next summer, visitors will be able to read interpretive signage and view the dredge from the parking area.
Morin said there is potential to enhance visitors’ experience in the historical complex in Dawson City over time because it’s been selected as a lead Parks Canada National Historic Site.
In the legislature Tuesday, Environment Minister Currie Dixon said that while there will be some changes in service to Park Canada operations in the Yukon, there won’t be any permanent closures.
“The Yukon government parks staff will continue to provide the excellent service that they have in providing services through our parks and campgrounds that are managed by the Yukon government,” he added.
In an interview today, Liz Hanson, the leader of the official Opposition, called the Parks Canada job reductions “short-sighted.
“It’s incredibly disappointing to see these kinds of cuts on a number of fronts,” she said.
Parks Canada’s operations in the Yukon are key for tourism in the territory, she said. The cuts reflect a misunderstanding on the part of the federal government of the impact these reductions could have on Yukon’s economy.
“The whole notion that we shut down and neglect our history is very short-sighted,” said Hanson.
The fact that you won’t be able to go in the dredge because Parks Canada will not be offering guided tours is just one small example, she said.
Hanson also noted that Parks Canada jobs are important in small communities.
“I think we need both the territorial Minister of Tourism (Mike Nixon) and the premier (Darrell Pasloski) to be making it clear that these historic sites and Parks Canada’s presence, they play a critical role in the overall tourism strategy in the territory,” she said.
“When you start underinvesting, you undermine the quality of the visit that tourists have and then that word get out and people don’t come.”
The Public Service Alliance of Canada regional executive vice-president for Northern Canada could not be reached for comment on Parks Canada’s staff cuts before deadline.
Representatives of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society-Yukon and the Yukon Conservation Society were also unavailable for comment.

flyingfur
May 2, 2012 at 3:23 pm
By my estimation, Yukon has only 7% of all the national parks and reserves in Canada, and yet at the hands of the Harper government, we’re losing 27% of the people that protect and manage the national parks in our territory. These are not cuts to make these areas more efficient or streamlined; services are being discontinued. Is this not the kind of thing that our MP should be speaking about in Ottawa when the Yukon appears to be taking a disproportionate hit on these cuts? Imagine if there was a 27% cut to staff at Parks Canada in Ontario or Quebec…I think there would be one hell of a noise going on.