Parks Act

Passage of the Parks Act (R.S.Q., c. P-9) in 1977 made it possible for the parks of Québec to join the great family of national parks around the world, which must all meet the criteria set out by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. In regard to conservation, the Parks Act prohibits all forms of prospecting, use and industrial exploitation of resources for forestry, mining or energy purposes and laying of oil and gas pipelines and power lines within national parks (electric power generating works and equipment, transport and communications equipment and control and transformer stations that pre-date the creation of a park are however maintained). All forms of hunting or trapping are also prohibited.

In 2001, the Government of Québec made significant modifications to the Parks Act, notably by strengthening its conservation mission within these territories. Separate recreation and conservation categories were abolished, so that all Québec national parks could henceforth pursue identical objectives, as stipulated in the provisions of the Act:

“Park” means a national park whose primary purpose is to ensure the conservation and permanent protection of areas representative of the natural regions of Québec and of natural sites with outstanding features, in particular because of their biological diversity, while providing the public with access to those areas or sites for educational or cross-country recreation purposes.”