Evacuations in Jasper due to wildfire

Dear colleagues,

Last night, there was an overnight evacuation of Jasper National Park, including the town of Jasper, due to active wildfires. Under a Superintendent’s order, Jasper National Park has also been closed. 

The evacuation includes most Parks Canada team members in Jasper except key critical employees. On behalf of the senior management team, we offer our deepest support and thanks to all of our team members, colleagues in the town of Jasper and in the provincial government, firefighters from aiding organizations, and Indigenous partners who are collectively and courageously battling wildfires, aiding the evacuation, or have been evacuated. 

As many of you rely on Jasper National Park dispatch for visitor and team member safety, we are ensuring continuity of the system. Please continue as usual unless otherwise advised.

I know we all want to reach out and offer our help to our colleagues who are impacted. Please understand that most are not in a position to respond immediately, as ensuring their and their loved ones’ evacuation is currently their most important job. We will also be communicating directly with evacuees in the coming hours.

I want to remind you that the Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP) is available to you and is designed to provide confidential psychological support during challenging times. They can be contacted at 1-800-268-7708 (TTY digital service for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing: 1-800-567-5803) or by live chat (password: canada), Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Eastern time.

Additional resources and helpful links are also available:

Parks Canada team members can always access those resources and other useful information such as a Guidance Document for Emergency Workplace Disruptions, a Guide to Critical Incident Stress Management, and a last-minute checklist via Parks(EXTRA)Net. The extranet will be updated on a regular basis to support team members impacted by wildfires and evacuations.

We are fully committed to supporting everyone affected and commend Parks Canada wildfire and incident management teams from across the country who are involved in responding to fires.

Ron Hallman

President & CEO

#ParksCanadaProud

 

Reminder to managers: In keeping with Parks Canada’s procedures for communications with employees, managers are responsible for ensuring all team members under their responsibility receive the information intended for them. It is important that you find a means to transmit this message and, if any, the attachment(s) to employees without access to Parks Canada e-mail or the intranet, e.g. by posting it, circulating a paper copy or by any other appropriate means.

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