All interim housing units at the museum site are now fully occupied, according to the Jasper Recovery Coordination Centre (JRCC). Michael Fark, Jasper's Directory of Recovery, also told council on Tuesday (Dec. 16) that the Patricia Circle and United Church sites will be occupied in February. Interi...

After weeks of deliberations and hearing multiple requests to reduce the tax burden, Jasper Municipal Council has passed its 2026 operational and capital budgets. Council managed to trim $150,000 from its interim budget and will use $149,000 from the fixed asset reserve to mitigate the Municipality ...

Council is sending its administrative team back to the drawing board on Jasper’s 2026 municipal budget. In asking for more information about the 2026 budget, council is hoping to create more transparency— and perhaps a bit of savings—on the proposed 10 per cent increase to local municipal taxes. Dur...

Jasper council is leaning toward supporting a proposed provincial electoral district that would have it join Banff and Canmore. On Tuesday (Dec. 9), committee of the whole recommended that council direct the mayor to provide a written submission supporting this change. Council will discuss this matt...

Council conforms to all but one of administration's recommendations as ongoing wildfire recovery guides MOJ's 2026 budget A tied vote defeated a motion to reduce the municipal tax requisition by two percent at councils’ 2026 budget meeting last month. As such, the proposed tax increase for 2026 is c...

Positions created to facilitate Jasper’s recovery from the 2024 wildfire will be fully funded to the end of their respective terms. The announcement was part of the Tuesday, November 18 Committee of the Whole meeting update from the Jasper Recovery Coordination Centre (JRCC). Director of Recovery, M...

Funding requests from community groups, arts organizations, business advocates, service centres, foundations and festivals went before Jasper Municipal Council November 18.  The annual appeals for support—this year from 11 different groups—were the first items that the recently-elected council has d...

Jasper's mayor and six councillors were officially sworn in on Friday, October 24 at the Lobstick Lodge's Skyline Lounge. Jasper's 2025 council includes Mayor Richard Ireland and councillors Laurie Rodger, Danny Frechette, Kable Kongsrud, Wendy Hall, Kathleen Waxer and Ralph Melnyk. // Bob Covey The...

Jasper Municipal Council will have three new elected officials for the 2025-2029 term. Laurie Rodger, Kable Kongsrud and Danny Frechette were elected as first-time councillors in the October 20, 2025 Jasper municipal election. Final results, which are unofficial until noon on Friday, came in last ni...

The race for town council is on. It’s exciting, not just because there’s a slate of worthy candidates, but also because in a small town, residents know many of the people in the running personally. But for the same reasons that make them exciting, small town political races run the danger of turning...

Although it could be a decade before the Jasper townsite recovers from last year’s wildfire, rebuild projects have broken ground on several lots. BILD (Building Industry and Land Development Association) Alberta CEO Scott Fash, whose organization represents the residential construction industry in A...

Herb Robinson will be Jasper’s next school board trustee. The retired educator, longstanding community volunteer, minor hockey referee and former president of the Jasper Yellowhead Historical Society was the only candidate to put his name forward in the Jasper Ward of the Grande Yellowhead Public Sc...

Seventeen candidates will compete for six councillor positions this Monday, October 20. Nominations closed today (Monday, September 22) at 12 p.m. Elections Alberta returning officers for the Municipality of Jasper, Christine Nadon and Lisa Daniel, said the last day for nominations saw one final can...

After months of lobbying three different governments for reimbursed costs incurred while hosting Jasper wildfire evacuees, the Village of Valemount and nine Valemount businesses have had their voices heard. In August, the Village received $302,585.60, disbursed by the Alberta Government via the Muni...

The Municipality of Jasper has received the Disaster Recovery Institute Canada’s (DRI Canada) Award of Excellence. The honours were bestowed on the municipality for its courageous response to the July 2024 Jasper wildfire, the largest in more than 100 years in Jasper National Park. Jasper Wildfire C...

Long-serving Jasper school trustee Dale Karpluk will not run for re-election in October. Karpluk, who was first elected in 2017 and who for the last four years has sat as chairperson on the Grande Yellowhead Public School Division board, said she is ready to pass the torch to another community-minde...

Residents displaced by the 2024 wildfire can still participate in this October’s municipal election. And with voting booths opening in less than two months, the Municipality of Jasper is helping ensure those who resided in Jasper on July 22, 2024, and who intend to return to the community, have all ...

Richard Ireland has indicated his intent to run for mayor in Jasper again. The only mayor that the community has ever known filed his notice of intent papers today, August 15, 2025. Reached at his home Friday afternoon, Ireland said he and his family came to the decision to offer his services to the...

Permitting is steadily moving forward in Jasper, according to the Jasper Recovery Coordination Centre (JRCC). At the August 5 regular council meeting, Directory of Recovery Michael Fark updated Jasper Municipal Council on the most recent activity facilitated through the JRCC’s offices. Fark said tha...

Too restrictive regulations? Or insincere insurance companies? The Jasper Local digs into one of the complex elements of rebuilding in a national park Editor's note (Aug 11 5:30 p.m.): This story has been updated to include comment from the Insurance Bureau of Canada When compared to how quickly it ...