This guide applies Leave No Trace Canada's seven principles to canoe trips. The park's or the land manager's own rules come first.
Plan the trip
Check the rules before you go: permits, campsite reservations, fire bans and group limits. Travel in small groups; Leave No Trace Canada suggests 4 to 6 people. Take food out of its packaging at home so there is less to carry out.
Camp on durable ground
In parks, use the designated campsites. Elsewhere, pick a site that is already used, or rock or gravel. Where there is no established site, camp more than 60 m from lakes and streams, the distance Leave No Trace Canada gives. Pitch the tent on bare ground or rock, not on plants.
Waste
Carry out everything you bring in, food scraps included. Use the outhouse where a campsite has one. Otherwise dig a hole 15 to 20 cm deep, more than 60 m from water, and cover it. Wash dishes and yourself more than 60 m from water, with little or no soap, and scatter the strained water on land. Some parks ban cans and glass bottles in the interior; Killarney is one.
Leave what you find
Leave rocks, plants and old objects where they are, including logging relics and pictographs. Do not cut live trees for poles or firewood.
Campfires
Check fire bans before and during the trip. In Ontario, the fire season runs from April 1 to October 31 in the northern fire region, and the province can declare zones there where open fires are banned. In Quebec, SOPFEU publishes open-fire bans. Where a fire is allowed, use an existing fire ring, keep the fire small, burn dead wood you can break by hand, and drown it until the ashes are cold. A stove leaves even less trace.
Wildlife
Watch animals from a distance and never feed them. Store food, garbage and toiletries away from the tent, in a bear barrel or hung from a tree.
Other paddlers
At both ends of a portage, move your gear off the trail so others can pass. Keep camp quiet, especially in the evening.
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