Five friends, five departments, one park

Today’s post comes from Zuzanna, Alysa, Lyle, Jackson, and Emily: five friends who applied to Ontario Parks across the province and by a twist of fate, all got jobs at the same provincial park, 1,500 km (or 16 hours) from home!

Are you interested in joining us for the 2024 summer season? Applications are now open!

In early January of last year, we applied to work at parks across the province. Being friends with connections in southern Ontario, we were yearning for seasonal jobs characterized by adventure and wilderness.

After numerous interviews and phone calls, one by one we received job offers from the same park: Quetico Provincial Park.

Once he reviewed our resumes and interviews, our senior operations technician discovered the friendships and previous connections that we had to one another.

Upon consideration of our unique backgrounds, he placed us in distinct departments to align with our individual strengths.

We became five friends in five departments, all at the same provincial park.

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What it’s like to work the front gate at a provincial park

Our front gate staff are frontline heroes of park operations.

(If you’ve ever checked in at a bustling park on a busy Friday afternoon, you know exactly what we’re talking about!)

Gate staff work extremely hard to get you into the park as quickly as possible, all while balancing many priorities in a hectic environment.

Here are five things they’d like you to know about working in the gatehouse:

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7 things to remember when arriving at the park gatehouse for day use

In today’s post comes from Discovery Leader Matt Cunliffe at MacGregor Point Provincial Park

When the big day comes, if you’re like me, all you want to do is get to your site: tent set, chairs out, feet up.

I’ve worked for Ontario Parks since 2006, afnd last year had the opportunity to run a gate house.

This gave me an increased respect for the amazing work our gate staff perform and valuable perspective on just how busy the park can be during check-in time for a long weekend…or any weekend for that matter.

And after a season of answering questions and helping campers, here are a few considerations for this year:

Continue reading 7 things to remember when arriving at the park gatehouse for day use