The goal of the national parks system is to protect a representative sample of each of Canada's landscapes. The status of national parks system planning within these 14 regions is illustrated on Map 1. For the Canada National Parks Act to apply, the Government of Canada must own the land and subsurface rights within the legislated boundaries of national parks. This requires negotiations with provincial governments and some jurisdictions have expressed a reluctance to transfer administration and control of provincial lands to the federal government for national park purposes. This position poses a significant challenge to representing several natural regions in the network of national parks.
Public support is essential in establishing new national parks.
A key component of a park feasibility study is to outline the benefits of a national park to local people, and to explore and address any concerns they may have about the proposed park in the hope of building widespread public support for its creation. How one gets local people with diverse cultures and interests to understand and appreciate the benefits of national parks is a major challenge. And those that are left are threatened by competing land uses including urban development, agriculture, forestry, mineral exploration, and hydro-electric developments. The creation of new national parks in unrepresented regions of the country has become increasingly complex and longer to complete, taking up to 10 years or more before agreement to set an area aside as a national park of Canada is reached. As well, the pace of progress towards completing the national park system is not determined solely by Parks Canada.