New Brunswick drone laws: parks, Park Manager approvals and the trespass rules
New Brunswick prohibits recreational drone flying across all provincial parks, with commercial use subject to Park Manager approval. Fines are the lowest in the region — a category B offence runs $140 to $640. Trespass on lawns, gardens or enclosed premises requires no notice. Fredericton’s parkland by-law contains no drone provision at all. And New Brunswick’s hunting prohibition is written around “aircraft,” not drones — a wording point the province has had to explain publicly.
Provincial parks
NB Parks states it directly in its FAQ: “Recreational drone flying is prohibited across all New-Brunswick Provincial Parks locations. Please do not fly your drone in the parks.” Commercial drone use is “subject to approval by Park Managers” — a decentralised process, so the conversation is with the specific park rather than a provincial office.
The statutory frame is the Parks Act, RSNB (P-2.1). Section 16(2)(i) authorises regulations regulating “pedestrian, vehicular, boat or air traffic in provincial parks,” and s.16(2)(m) covers maximum periods for persons, vehicles, boats, vessels or aircraft in a provincial park. So the power to make an air-traffic regulation clearly exists.
Whether it has been exercised is the open question. Section 11.1(1) makes violating the regulations a category B offence under Part II of the Provincial Offences Procedure Act; certain violations are category E. Translating through POPA s.56: category B is $140 to $640 and category E is $240 to $5,200. But I could not confirm that the drone prohibition is backed by a made regulation rather than being a management policy enforced by ejection. A draft drones policy PDF exists on a NB Parks host I could not fetch, and a draft is not law in any case.
Practically it makes little difference to how you should behave — do not fly recreationally in a New Brunswick provincial park — but it matters if you are ever ticketed, and it is the kind of thing worth asking the Park Manager directly when you apply for commercial approval.
Trespass
The Trespass Act, SNB 2012, c.117, is unusually granular. The provisions that matter for finding a launch point:
- s.4.1(1) — trespass on lawns, gardens, or enclosed premises regardless of notice. This is the operative one for an uninvited launch or a drone retrieval in someone’s yard.
- s.3(1) — trespass on shops, stores, schools, universities, shelters and other premises after notice.
- s.5(1) — motor-vehicle trespass in wildlife refuges, protected natural areas, watercourses, lake and ocean shores, and marshes.
- s.6(1) — cultivated or managed agricultural land, orchards, pastures, Christmas tree plantations and maple sugaries.
- s.14 — motor-vehicle forfeiture on a second or subsequent conviction on the same land. s.15 — compensation orders up to the small-claims limit.
Penalties run through Schedule A categories and POPA s.56: category C is $140–$1,100, category E is $240–$5,200, and category F is $240–$10,200. I could not confirm which category attaches to which section — Schedule A did not render — so I am not going to match them up for you. The rule that matters is simpler: no sign is needed for a lawn, garden or enclosed premises to be off limits.
Municipal
Fredericton — I read the full text of By-law No. L-19, A By-law Respecting Parklands and Trail Systems. It contains no provisions on aircraft, drones, model aircraft, kites, or any flying device. It regulates bicycles, e-bikes, e-scooters, e-vehicles, motor vehicles and horses. There is no Fredericton park drone prohibition.
Moncton — the by-law index contains no drone by-law. The closest instrument is By-Law H-302 (Recreation Areas), whose contents I could not retrieve. Check it before flying in a Moncton recreation area.
Saint John — by-laws are held in a separate records repository that the public by-laws page only links to, and I could not enumerate them. Unverified.
Hunting: an “aircraft” rule doing drone work
The Fish and Wildlife Act, SNB 1980, c.F-14.1, s.43(1)(e) makes it an offence where a person “uses an aircraft in connection with hunting, except as a means of transportation.” The Act does not use the words “drone” or “unmanned” anywhere, and neither does the Hunting Regulation, NB Reg. 84-133, whose full text I read.
This is the provision the Minister relied on in 2019 when telling hunters they could not use drones to find moose — the argument runs through the ordinary meaning of “aircraft,” which under the federal Aeronautics Act includes an RPAS. It works, but it is an interpretation rather than an express drone ban, which is why it needed a public statement to settle.
One Atlantic-wide point. None of the four Atlantic provinces has a private-sector privacy law, so PIPEDA applies directly to commercial drone imaging in all of them. Only Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec have laws declared substantially similar to PIPEDA. The federal Privacy Commissioner, not a provincial one, is your regulator here.
If you are working toward certification
None of this changes the exam or the flight review. The Advanced written exam is 50 questions in 60 minutes at an 80% pass mark, written online through Transport Canada’s Drone Management Portal from anywhere in Canada, and the certificate is valid nationally. What the material on this page changes is the operational judgement you are assessed on — a reviewer expects you to distinguish airspace authorization from land-use permission and say which one you hold for the site you are standing on.
Free preparation: the practice exam and the Advanced certificate walkthrough. Paid: the Canadian RPAS Operations Guide.
Related reading
- All 13 provinces and territories compared — parks, permits, trespass and privacy side by side
- Nova Scotia drone laws
- Newfoundland & Labrador drone laws
- Prince Edward Island drone laws
- Where can I fly a drone in Canada? — airspace authority versus land-use authority
- Canadian drone rules at a glance — every federal limit on one page
Questions
Can I fly a drone in a New Brunswick provincial park?
Not recreationally. NB Parks states that recreational drone flying is prohibited across all New Brunswick provincial park locations. Commercial drone use is subject to approval by the individual Park Manager, so the application goes to the specific park rather than a central provincial office.
What is the fine for flying a drone in a New Brunswick provincial park?
If the prohibition is backed by a made regulation, s.11.1(1) of the Parks Act makes it a category B offence under the Provincial Offences Procedure Act, which s.56 sets at $140 to $640; some violations are category E at $240 to $5,200. It could not be confirmed whether the drone prohibition rests on a regulation or is a management policy enforced by ejection — worth asking the Park Manager directly.
Does Fredericton have a drone bylaw?
No. By-law No. L-19, A By-law Respecting Parklands and Trail Systems, contains no provisions on aircraft, drones, model aircraft, kites or any flying device — it regulates bicycles, e-bikes, e-scooters, motor vehicles and horses. Moncton's By-Law H-302 (Recreation Areas) could not be retrieved and Saint John's by-law repository could not be enumerated, so check those directly.
Can I use a drone for hunting in New Brunswick?
No. Section 43(1)(e) of the Fish and Wildlife Act makes it an offence to use an aircraft in connection with hunting except as a means of transportation. The Act and the Hunting Regulation never say drone or unmanned — the prohibition runs through the ordinary meaning of aircraft, which under the federal Aeronautics Act includes an RPAS. The Minister relied on this provision publicly in 2019 regarding drones used to find moose.
Written by Chris Jones, Transport Canada-certified RPAS pilot and flight reviewer. Last reviewed 8 August 2026. Spot an error? Tell me and I'll fix it.