Three men charged for paragliding in Auyuittuq National Park have been fined $500 each.
Chris Fitzgerald, 27, and Christopher Warner, 34, are from Australia and Nathan Kukathas, 30, is a German citizen living in British Columbia.
Three hang gliders have been fined $500 each for their leaps off Nunavut's Mount Thor. The sport is prohibited by Parks Canada. (Associated Press)
The group jumped off Mount Thor in June. The mountain has a cliff face which is one kilometre high, the longest uninterrupted cliff face in the world.
Their defense lawyer, James Morton, entered guilty pleas for all three men at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit Monday morning.
Paragliding is prohibited by Parks Canada regulations.
Crown prosecutor Leo Lane said the paragliders were in a very remote location and it would have been expensive and hazardous to send in emergency personnel in the event of an accident.
1 comment:
Crown counsel says we can't do something because it might be expensive or dangerous to send rescue. Hmmm. Is the state really saying that it's ability to protect us is justification for 'reasonable' limitations on our rights?
Aside from the blanket ban on paragliding in parks, which may or may not be reasonable, that line of argument can get really scary, really quick in remote areas of Canada. Can I be banned from driving in an area where rescue could be far away, or made to get special licensing? How about scuba diving in a remote location on BC's coast? How about living with a heart condition too far from a hospital necessitating a helicopter, which is expensive?
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