B.C.'s Joffre Lakes Park to have partial closure, allowing for conservation, tourism

PEMBERTON, BRITISH COLUMBIA — An agreement between the B.C. government and the First Nations that manage Joffre Lakes Provincial Park will see the popular tourist spot closed for part of the year to protect its "natural and cultural values."

The announcement comes after a disagreement over the park's public use led the Lilwat and N'Quatqua First Nations to shut down access to the park for about a month last year.

Environment Minister George Heyman says in a statement the decision to close the park for short stretches comes in collaboration between the province and the two nations.

The park will be closed from April 30 to May 15, June 14 to 23 and from Sept. 3 to Oct. 6, allowing the Indigenous communities to conduct cultural celebrations and traditional fall harvesting practices.

Visitors to the park will still be required to reserve free day-use passes to visit Joffre Lakes in order for BC Parks to "reduce visitor impact on the natural environment."

Lilwat Nation Chief Dean Nelson says in a statement the park area is sacred for his community and the closures are necessary for his people's well-being.

"By implementing these closures, we are striving to reintroduce our community to an area where they have been marginalized," he says. "The time and space created by these closures will allow our youth, elders and all Lilwat citizens to practise their inherent rights while reconnecting with the land."

The Lilwat and N'Quatqua nations stopped public access to the park for parts of August and September last year for their harvest celebrations, saying they were asserting their title rights on the land.

The province says its monitoring of the increasing impact of visitors at Joffre Lakes has found the "need for enhanced visitor-use management" to prevent the degradation of the environment due to "unsustainably high human traffic."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2024.

The Canadian Press