Parks Canada Agency — Local services in Gatineau

Not a Canadian citizen but wanted to give a big shout out to Parks Canada in so many different areas after spending more than a month using the park system. (1) Website – user friendly and comprehensive. (2) Call center – Had an issue with a purchase and the person I spoke to was very personable/professional and quickly addressed my issue. (3) Annual pass – Having two ways to purchase very helpful. Purchased first online and found out I needed a second so bought at a retailer in Victoria. (4) New Reservation System – If you plan ahead and get to know the system, it is easy to use although the virtual queue is scary (was 36,000 in line at one point). I appreciate the approach to be more fair and keeping groups from buying out big blocks in some of the high demand areas. (5) Staff – From the rangers, to the staff at the gates to the people cleaning wash rooms, I found everyone we encountered to be very friendly and customer-service oriented. As the first line of direct contact, they are excellent ambassadors for Canada. (6) Recycling effort – Impressed by the availability and variety of recycling stations throughout parks. Well done! (7) The National Parks and Historic Sites (visited – What a national treasure and they speak for themselves (visited Kootenay, Yoho, Pacific Rim, Banff, Jasper, Ft. Langley so far). Now the challenge is to protect them from being overrun and to be there for future generations. Good start with the shuttles to Moraine Lake and Lake Louise but more needs to be done. (8) Overall – Had an incredible experience from when we entered Victoria to now and look forward to seeing more of Canada and its park...

Great Parks. Poor management. Let me explain. I booked sites for my family and another family in Banff and Jasper. There is a $11.50 plus tax fee per booking just for the privilege to reserve a site. This is on top of almost $30.00 per night for each site and the mandatory $10.00 per day fire permit for all sites. I booked 4 sites and these added up to $354.00 for 4 days. Fine. Something came up and we had to cancel our trip. I understood that the $11.50 plus tax booking fees were non-refundable. $50.00 to book 4 sites, is a bit much but ok fine. What is not obvious until you cancel, is an additional cancellation fee of 11.50+tax for each site. This is a bit much. It cost me almost $100.00 to use the website (it costs more if you call) to book 4 sites well in advance and then cancel them well in advance. Maybe this would be a bit easier to take if they issued me tax receipt for this forced donation. Parks Canada, you are pricing out lower income families and making these parks which belong to Canadians, inaccessible to...

Hello Parks Canada and the Federal Government should be ashamed of themselves for allowing stinking, filthy outhouses at Lake Moraine. It is a total embarrassment for Canada. Please don't use the excuse that thousands of people use these horrendous facilities because Parks Canada needs to have employees there 24/7 cleaning and they don't. The federal government seems to have millions and millions of dollars to spend on themselves traveling overseas and giving millions of dollars away to countries that don't deserve a dime. However, a national treasure is allowed to be a cesspool of feces and urine. How can this go on and on? Our visitors from Australia were absolutely disgusted and so were we. How about Minister Steven Guibeault and his tree hugging staff spend a day inside these latrines? They wouldn't last 5 seconds. It is about time you spend money to clean this place up and keep Lake Moraine a beautiful, pristine place without the stench and the horrific conditions inside and outside these...