To say that we’re relieved to hear about Alberta’s recent decision regarding Crown Lands is an understatement. Whether you’re the type of camper (or day-tripper) who acts a fool or are just there to enjoy the sun and catch up on sleep, we think we can all agree that having drones flying around recording everything that we’re all doing would feel…. kind of gross.
Shockingly, only a few days ago, a report proposing to do exactly that was actually being considered by officials, with drone suppliers actually having been contacted and on standby.
According to the Edmonton Journal, these drones would have been primarily used on holidays and weekends to detect campfires, off-highway vehicles in restricted areas, and gatherings that exceed 10 people.
Now, of course, making sure that the land is being respected is incredibly important – but there are a hundred different ways that the government could go about this; in fact, they already have tiny aircraft helping with search and rescue efforts, keeping track of wildlife and alerting authorities if there’s a fire, but these are not used to monitor people (unless in distress).
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Luckily, we certainly aren’t the only ones who feel icky about the situation, because even before anything could take flight, the plan was shot down by none other than the Environment and Parks Minister himself, Jason Nixon.
“In no way is the government supporting using drones to watch Albertans as they are recreating on parks and public lands,” Jason Nixon told the EJ before also calling the RFP “completely and utterly inappropriate.”
Now we want to know how you guys feel about the whole proposal. Do you think that it’s important that we have an additional means of monitoring the area, or do you think that this would be an overreach by the government?
Let us know, and count your lucky stars, folks, because things could have gotten pretty dang weird on Alberta’s Crown Lands this summer.
