N.B. debates Wi-Fi camping

Some New Brunswick campers say provincial parks should bar cellphones and web access in certain areas.

Yellowstone National Park in the United States has created sections that are free of cellphones and internet access.

Jennifer Morrison spent the weekend camping in Mactaquac Provincial Park, a few kilometres west of Fredericton. She said it's hard to leave the technology off when a push of a button brings the great indoors into the great outdoors.  

"I lost track of my friend who's [camping] next door and I tried to call her on her cellphone and I thought, 'You know, there's something wrong with being able to do this in the middle of a provincial park,'" she said.

At Yellowstone, staff will help visitors unplug by asking them to turn off their cellphones, smartphones and laptop computers in certain areas of the park. The Wyoming wilderness area will continue to provide access in and near some park buildings, but much of the remainder of the park will be offline.

Good for children

Morrison said a similar policy would be useful in New Brunswick, especially for parents trying to separate their children from their high-tech toys.

"There's a little bit of whining at the beginning, but once they realize it's not even worth asking, they really have a lot of fun. I think it's a wonderful idea," she said.

New Brunswick anti-internet campers are swimming upstream, though, as Parks Canada is considering offering Wi-Fi internet services in some national parks.

Provincial parks may follow that lead.

Nova Scotia started testing wireless service in provincial parks a couple of years ago on a trial basis and is now expanding it to more parks.

Jeff McCarthy, the director of New Brunswick's provincial park operations, said going tech-free is an interesting concept, but it needs to be balanced with safety.

"It does create an issue when we have people who are out on the side of a mountain and may need [to summon] help, but don't have the means to do so," he said.

McCarthy added that a technology review is planned for this fall to see what provincial parks could be serviced by Wi-Fi and whether they should be.