Visitors no longer welcome when Jasper residents return on Friday: officials

New rules for re-entry into Jasper Visitors are no longer welcome when Jasper residents return on Friday. Jacqueline Wilson reports.

The Jasper re-entry on Friday will now be for residents only, officials announced Wednesday.

Previously, the incident management team had said there was no way to keep non-residents from returning to town on Friday.

They have now walked that statement back.

"Re-entry on Aug. 16 is for residents only," Parks Canada said in a post on its website on Wednesday.

"Resident security concerns have been heard. Your safe return is our priority. We are in this together."

The post says residents will be able to show their Parks Canada-issued resident parking pass or self-declare at park gates, and will in turn receive a resident re-entry guide.

"RCMP will be stationed at the east entrance ensuring everyone entering has a resident re-entry guide," Parks Canada said. "The only entrance to town will be the east entrance."

Anyone without a resident re-entry guide will be directed to drive through the park on Highway 16 without stopping.

"Friday will be a day of deep emotion for residents returning for the first time," Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland said.

"We ask today that you continue to respect the very raw emotion that accompanies the grief that our residents are going to see on Friday."

Officials say anyone who needs to bring a support person or someone to help them with their home in Jasper will not be turned away.

"If you are a resident of Jasper that is bringing friends or family along to help you in whatever capacity, whether that's support or whether that's to attend to your residence, you are going to be able to come in with that person," Staff Sgt. Grant Kneller said.

Returning residents are being warned to prepare themselves that the town looks and smells a lot different than they remember.

"The photos that people are seeing that have been going around on social media likely won't prepare everybody for the impact that coming back into town is going to have," Jonathan Large of Parks Canada said.

He warned that many items burned in the fire, and the smell is still lingering in the town.

"We're talking about plastics, and all the various different metals or whatever was in the homes. It's not just the trees. In some areas, it has more of an acidic smell that you would get with burning plastics. In other areas, it's more just the dust you would get from an older campfire," Large said.

"We really want people to be aware of what they're coming into."

Residents who live in Jasper but outside the main townsite will receive instructions about when they can return at a later date.