Cars queue up before sunrise on a cool morning close to Banff’s gates, their headlights piercing the mountain mist like pale tunnels. While waiting for the ranger station to open, some drivers browse their phones or drink coffee from paper cups. The gradual transition into the wilderness and the human pause before nature takes over have always had a subtly ceremonial quality. That pause might look different by 2028.
In order to replace or at least significantly augment the well-known practice of paper permits and in-person purchases, Canada’s national parks are getting ready to mandate digital entry passes.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Managing Authority | Parks Canada |
| Country | Canada |
| System Size | 48 national parks, 171 historic sites, marine conservation areas |
| Current Entry Method | Physical passes, Discovery Pass, or free admission periods |
| Planned Change | Mandatory digital entry passes by 2028 (planned transition phase) |
| Purpose | Manage overcrowding, improve visitor tracking, streamline access |
| Popular Park Example | Banff National Park |
| Existing Online Integration | Discovery Pass already purchasable online |
| Reference Link | https://parks.canada.ca/voyage-travel/admission |
Instead of rolling down their windows, visitors will probably scan their phones. Once analog and a little erratic, the ritual is evolving into something more akin to airport boarding.
Perhaps the change will feel effective. However, it might also seem as though something intangible has changed.
Discovery Passes are already available for purchase online through Parks Canada, and new programs such as the Canada Strong Pass have demonstrated how rapidly entry systems can change. That program didn’t even need a physical pass because it offered discounts and free admission. Visitors just showed up with their eligibility already entered into a database. In a subtle way, the tangible token—the little sticker or printed receipt—was starting to become optional.
It seems like the next logical step to require a digital pass.
There is a useful justification for it. Overcrowding has been a problem in national parks, particularly during busy times. Parking lots fill up before mid-morning in locations like Banff and Jasper, forcing latecomers to turn around. Rangers in fluorescent vests occasionally wave cars away while making pitying gestures.
By enabling officials to monitor visitor numbers in real time and restrict entry before chaos breaks out, digital passes could help control that flow.
Nevertheless, there’s a subtle irony to the requirement for a phone signal in order to enter the wilderness.
Signals completely vanish in isolated locations. Instead of being tools for communication, phones turn into cameras. The functionality of digital passes in those settings is still unknown. Are screenshots going to be enough? Are offline systems going to exist? There is still some uncertainty because Parks Canada hasn’t addressed all of the questions.
One can’t help but notice how much travel already relies on invisible systems when they watch families arrive at park entrances. Paper maps are replaced by GPS. First-come campsites are replaced by online reservations. The digital pass feels more like the conclusion of a lengthy process than a sudden change.
Completeness, however, can still feel like a loss.
Many Canadians have a memory of showing up at a park on their own, with nothing planned, no apps, just a car, a map, and curiosity. Freedom was essential to those moments, and unpredictability was essential to freedom. On the other hand, digital systems reward planning.
They like things to be certain.
Digital passes could also address issues that have subtly gotten worse. Despite managing expansive landscapes, Parks Canada continues to see an increase in visitors. Programs for free admission, intended to promote exploration, occasionally overtax infrastructure. Trails eroded more quickly. The animals moved farther away.
Digitally controlling access could help safeguard what visitors see. Nevertheless, there is a faint emotional tension.
The distinction between connection and escape has become increasingly blurred, as demonstrated by the hikers adjusting their backpacks and checking their phones one last time before losing signal while standing next to a trailhead last summer. They come to get away from screens, from work, and from cities.
Screens will now be incorporated into the actual entry procedure.
This change seems to be a reflection of something more significant than park management. It reflects the way that contemporary life is structured through digital records, permissions, and confirmations. Once characterized by its disregard for human systems, wilderness is now being subtly incorporated into them.
By 2028, it might seem commonplace to scan into a national park. As always, visitors will adjust quickly. Arguments tend to favor convenience over tradition.
However, it might feel different at park gates in the early morning. Waiting less. Reduced ambiguity. There is less mystery. And maybe, just a little, less crazy.
