Americans fined for hiking in Banff National Park during pandemic

RCMP issued seven tickets to Americans who were sightseeing in Banff National Park to the tune of $1,200 each. The tickets were primarily issued around the Lake Louise area, according to Cpl. Deanna Fontaine.

Fontaine said Sunday that she could only speak to six of the seven tickets issued, noting they were in the Lake Louise area.

RCMP responded to a complaint on June 16 regarding a vehicle that had US plates that was “parked at a location for a significant amount of time.” Following a brief investigation, police issued four tickets to the American citizens responsible for the vehicle as they were found to be violating the rules of the medical officer of health.

Two days later RCMP responded to similar calls, one was a public complaint and the other was discovered by an officer, both individuals received tickets and were also American citizens. They were ticketed for "hiking for an extended period of time."

“If a US traveller was allowed into Canada by Canada Border Service Agency for an essential purpose, they have to abide by those requirements,” said Cpl. Fontaine. “Under the public health order, if you were told by Canada Border Service Agency that the essential purpose is to get from point A to point B and the essential parts of that would be like food, fuel, rest stops and things like that, going for a lengthy hike in the national park wouldn’t meet that essential piece.”

Non-essential travel between the Canada and the US remains prohibited at this time and Americans are required to obey Canada Border Service Agent's instructions. Border closures are anticipated to last through July 21.

“Banff detachment has not identified this as a policing issue,” said Cpl. Fontaine. “We are responding… to these complaints reactively and dealing with these issues as they come in accordance with public health guidelines. This is not something that we are targeting or pursuing proactively. We are dealing with this reactively.”

“We would just hope that when we do encounter these situations, that if we do have persons from the US who are travelling through, that they are in compliance with the directions that they’ve been given by the Canadian Border Service Agency and that they are being reasonable in their essential needs as they travel through,” said Cpl. Fontaine.

According to Cpl. Fontaine it's the RCMP’s priority is to remedy such issues through education. People need to know and have the necessary requirements to get through the pandemic. Hiking however, is not deemed essential or necessary, she said.