Paddlers will be able to enter Quetico Provincial Park at the Prairie Portage and Cache Bay ranger stations using the new telephone reporting sites starting next month.  

Paddle & Portage media spoke to officials from Quetico and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) this week, with both agencies confirming June 8 as the expected start date for the new program.

The telephone reporting site rollout for June 8 applies only to Quetico Park, according to officials from CBSA. When other sites are officially designated, CBSA officials told Paddle & Portage media May 21, travelers will be able to report their entry by phone at these locations. As of June 8, the only active telephone reporting sites will be at Cache Bay and Prairie Portage. Anyone else entering Canada from a border lake needs an active Remote Area Border Crossing (RABC) permit.

The RABC Program will continue to operate through Sept. 13.

After that time, telephone reporting sites will be available outside of Quetico.

Paddlers with a valid RABC permit may continue to enter Canada at Cache Bay and Prairie Portage without having to report their entry if they have an active permit, CBSA officials said.

For towboat operators who’ve had to tell paddlers for more than a year that they can’t access Quetico at the two south entrances to the park unless they had a valid RABC permit, the June 8 rollout of the telephone reporting sites is welcome news. The same applies for paddlers who’ve essentially been shut out from access to Cache Bay or Prairie Portage unless they had a valid RABC permit. That said, there are still questions to be answered, including if paddlers hoping to enter the park can find out in advance if they’re eligible to enter Canada. Click here to read a list of reasons people can be denied entry to Canada, including DUI arrests within the past decade. Other questions include: How long the process to check in via the telephone reporting system will take; where telephone reporting will take place on the island at Cache Bay; and how cellphones will be utilized in the process.

Paddle & Portage media is planning to spend several days at Cache Bay near the June 8 start date to learn more about the process.

Meanwhile, CBSA officials continue to “identify and designate additional reporting sites,” the agency said May 21.

“Several site owners have expressed interest in designation and the process is underway,” CBSA officials said.

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