The Department of National Defence has confirmed the Canadian military won’t be renewing its 65-year-long collaboration for avalanche control in Rogers Pass, come August 2027.
Since 1961, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has partnered with Parks Canada on Operation PALACI to protect and maintain the national highway and railway corridors through Glacier National Park amid winter avalanche risk, using howitzers and 15 to 20 reserve military personnel.
This not only minimizes lengthy delays for thousands of road vehicles, dozens of trains and millions of dollars in commercial goods traveling across the country, but as a secondary benefit makes possible Parks Canada’s winter permit system for skiers and other recreationists to access the backcountry. That program has run since 1995.
During one prolonged winter storm this March that intermittently shut the Trans-Canada Highway for several days, the avalanche control program fired 271 artillery rounds that helped trigger 37 Size 3 and 4 snowslides during the closure.
READ: Large avalanches heighten continued caution for spring skiers in Rogers Pass
But in November 2025, the CAF told Parks Canada that it wouldn’t renew its current five-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) for Operation PALACI, Canada’s longest-running military operation, according to National Defence media spokesperson Andrée-Anne Poulin.
This information surfaced publicly this week as an unclassified letter from National Defence Gen. Jennie Carignan, addressed to Parks Canada president and CEO Ron Hallman, appeared on social media.
Carignan’s letter, which National Defence didn’t deny the contents of, notes the CAF’s current MOU won’t continue “in its current form” after expiring Aug. 17, 2027.
“We have given serious consideration to the importance of this operation,” Carignan wrote. “However, the CAF continues to face significant resource pressures while the global geopolitical situation continues to evolve rapidly. Regrettably, the situation has not improved while the demands on our resources have continued to increase despite recent investments.”
Poulin told Black Press Media by email that the CAF isn’t renewing the agreement “due to evolving defence modernization priorities and operational imperatives, and the planned divestment of the legacy artillery systems currently used in support of Parks Canada.”
Since 2025, “Parks Canada and the CAF have been engaged in discussions regarding the future management of avalanche control in Rogers Pass, so that transportation safety and operational responsibilities are addressed during the transition,” Poulin said.
Before the MOU expires, the CAF has indicated it will assist Parks Canada in transitioning its avalanche control program away from military support, Poulin added.
READ: Trans-Canada Highway flooding, washout trigger advisories for Rogers Pass
While Carignan’s letter said the CAF has been proud to support Parks Canada’s avalanche control work for more than 70 years — back to the 1950s — “the availability of modern technologies and alternative capabilities presents options for successful transition to civilian methods, as has occurred elsewhere.”
B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation and Transit, for example, relies heavily on helicopter bombing for winter avalanche control. Also, this last winter, Whistler Blackcomb became the first Canadian ski area to use drone-operated avalanche explosives, in partnership with Squamish-based avalanche and mountain safety consultant Alpine Solutions.
Black Press Media has contacted Parks Canada about its MOU not being renewed with the CAF in 2027. However, the federal agency is undergoing a media blackout until May 12 and isn’t responding before then.