Parks Canada has quietly axed a search and rescue dog program that dates back to the early 1970s.
“It’s a really big service to visitor safety and law enforcement,” said Scott Ward, a retired Parks Canada dog handler, who worked as a warden for 35 years and a handler from 1983 to 2000.
“It’s getting busier every year. The calls are going up. The visitor safety people are way busier now than they were in my era.”
Mike Henderson, a dog handler in Banff National Park from 2001-19, said he understands the need to save money, but cutting the canine program could reduce safety.
“You’re cutting a piece that’s not obsolete. It’s got 55 years of success, and we keep on proving ourselves. … It’s not like we sat on our laurels or were hyper expensive at any time,” said Henderson, who had three dogs — Attila, Atar and Cazz — and was involved in more than 1,000 calls.
The last search and rescue dog, Leroy, was retired last summer after a seven-year career. Leroy was involved in finding more than 50 people in the wilderness, located avalanche victims, recovered mountain fatalities, helped stop poaching and was a prominent public relations figure.
Henderson and Ward said a new dog went through about two and a half months of training to be brought into federal service only to have it cut.
The 2025 federal budget included $145 million in cuts to Parks Canada over three years.
A Parks Canada spokesperson said they would get back to CBC News on questions about why the dog program was cut, but didn’t provide an answer before publishing.
Cazz, a Parks Canada search and rescue dog, stands outside an illegal campsite on the edges of the Town of Banff. (Submitted by Mike Henderson)
The search and rescue program was approved in 1970 and started in Jasper National Park.
It was highly used in the mountain national parks for backcountry rescues, to search for missing people, support local police, locate people who died in avalanches and find illegal campsites.
The program grew to six dogs, but was slowly whittled down. The Jasper field unit stopped using dogs more than a decade ago, leaving only Banff.
Sid Marty was a warden in Banff, Jasper and Yoho national parks from 1966-78. He said they worked closely with the search and rescue dog and its handler.
He said the dog could quickly find people caught in avalanches, helping to avoid Parks Canada staff getting caught in subsequent avalanches during a lengthy search.
Search and rescue dog Atar scopes out the scene of a collision involving multiple semi-trucks on the Trans-Canada Highway. (Submitted by Mike Henderson)
Ward said his dogs — Data, Smokey and Gypsy — were critical in finding missing people, such as kids who wandered away from campsites.
He said they were trained to search for human scent “as small as a paperclip in the grass to as large as a human body.”
Henderson emphasized the dogs went beyond search and rescue.
He said their day-to-day could have them handling illegal camping, responding to mental health calls, dealing with illegal campfires, monitoring area closures, removing food to avoid wildlife becoming habituated to it, and monitoring for poaching.
“You can put the rowdy campers to bed,” he said. “You roll in, ask nicely and light the dog up, and everyone says, ‘OK, we’re going to bed.’”
Henderson said consultation should’ve taken place to get a better understanding of what would be lost by cutting the program.
“Why’d we get rid of it now? It definitely needs to be spoken to,” Henderson said.
Former Parks Canada warden Mike Henderson and his search and rescue dog in Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan during an anti-poaching operation. (Submitted by Mike Henderson)
Parks Canada is undergoing a “workforce adjustment” and recently notified 2,917 employees — more than half of its staff — they could be fired or moved to different positions. Andrew Campbell, acting CEO of Parks Canada, said in an all-staff email the federal agency has to cut about 500 full-time jobs.
The full rollout of the new plan is anticipated in 2027, and Campbell said they’re allowing people to voluntarily leave or retire to reduce the number of people who are cut.
“Parks Canada has used, and will continue to use, every tool at its disposal to minimize involuntary departures,” he said in a call to staff.
