{"id":12043,"date":"2014-05-01T14:06:03","date_gmt":"2014-05-01T21:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=12043"},"modified":"2017-10-12T14:12:47","modified_gmt":"2017-10-12T21:12:47","slug":"parks-canada-defends-wi-fi-hotspots-says-they-wont-be-in-back-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=12043","title":{"rendered":"Parks Canada defends Wi-Fi hotspots, says they won’t be in ‘back country’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Parks Canada says the proposed wireless hotspots in its parks would be restricted to visitor centres and campgrounds — \u201cnot in the wilderness, and not in the back country,\u201d Andrew Campbell, director of visitor experience with Parks Canada, told CTV\u2019s Power Play.<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
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Corinne Ton That, CTVNews.ca
\nPublished Tuesday, April 29, 2014<\/div>\n
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There\u2019s been an outpouring of negative reaction since Parks Canada announced its plans of creating wireless Internet hotspots on Monday.<\/p>\n

But Andrew Campbell, director of visitor experience with Parks Canada, says the wireless zones would be restricted to visitor centres and campgrounds — \u201cnot in the wilderness, and not in the back country,\u201d he told CTV\u2019s Power Play.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is have it around the spots where people can write a digital postcard home, where they could in the morning pick up and take their digital subscription and read the newspaper when they\u2019re around the campground,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose sorts of things are what people have been asking us for, and so we\u2019re trying to provide that to our visitors,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The agency is currently requesting tenders from Canadian companies to install Internet access in as many as 150 locations over the next three years.<\/p>\n

And while many Canadians see natural parks as places to escape city life without the distraction of technology, Campbell says the agency is seeking ways to attract younger generations and urbanites to the wilderness in order to boost visitor numbers.<\/p>\n

Approximately 20 million people visit Parks Canada\u2019s parks every year, but that number has been steadily decreasing over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what we\u2019ve been looking at is how we can attract other audiences and more urban people, quite frankly, coming into natural areas, and how we can create that connection,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Campbell also said a youth council has been put in place in order to get the next generation \u201centhused\u201d about nature, as the average age of campers has been increasing.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, David Webb, editor of Explore Magazine, says a lot of the negative reaction surrounding Parks Canada\u2019s proposal to introduce modern cellphone coverage is \u201ca bit overblown,\u201d and that the effect on camping will be negligible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wilderness is still going to be there for everyone, you just might have to hike a bit to get to it — but Jasper is a 10,000 square-kilometre park, so it\u2019s there,\u201d he told CTV News Channel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of wilderness in Canada that will never be a Wi-Fi zone,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.ctvnews.ca\/canada\/parks-canada-defends-wi-fi-hotspots-says-they-won-t-be-in-back-country-1.1798605<\/a><\/p>\n

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Parks Canada says the proposed wireless hotspots in its parks would be restricted to visitor centres and campgrounds — \u201cnot in the wilderness, and not in the back country,\u201d Andrew Campbell, director of visitor experience with Parks Canada, told CTV\u2019s Power Play. Corinne Ton That, CTVNews.ca Published Tuesday, April 29, 2014 There\u2019s been an outpouring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[166,134,17,103,26,28,3,476,475,19,474,477,169,186],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alberta","category-government-bc","category-bc","category-canada","category-canadian-parliament-committee-on-wireless","category-cell-tower","category-health_and_safety","category-newfoundland","category-nova-scotia","category-ontario","category-parks-canada","category-prince-edward-island","category-quebec","category-saskatchewan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12043"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12048,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12043\/revisions\/12048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}