Just received official word from the Ministry (they replied in one day!):

Hello James:

Thank you for your inquiry.

Only barbless hooks and artificial bait are permitted in Quetico Provincial Park.  Barbed hooks may be in a tackle box but must not be on the fishing line. Barbed hooks must be pinched before being attached to a fishing line.

If you require further assistance, please contact the Natural Resources Information and Support Centre at 1-800-667-1940 or 1-800-387-7011.

Regards,

NRISC web reader - AC

Yeah even in lakes where not required I often take off the front treble of a crankbait just to make C&R easier on the fish and me.

In the Q I mostly fish with jigs and plastics/Gulp so happy to chomp off the barb as I go.

I started crushing the barbs on the lures I use to Brook Trout fish with because it's very easy to kill a small trout if the hook gets into their gut.

Next, I switched ALL my treble hooks to single hooks.
  When they banned them in the Q, I already was a fan of barbless and single hooks.

All my lures are now single hooks as well as barbless. Even my floating/dive baits are single hooks. I usually leave just the tailhook on smaller baits. 3 treble hook baits I take off the front treble and make the other 2 single barbless hooks.

  One thing I found out real fast is that once you set that barbless hook, especially a solo single hook, you need to keep the line tight and the rod tip up.

From my limited experience, the difference in losing fish with a barbed/treble vs single barbless is negligible and easily outweighed by how much easier it is to release fish AND not put a hook into your hand. 

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In the beginning you could crush as you go but I never paid much attention after that because IMHO, barbless hooks were one of the best ideas ever! After that first year I crushed all my barbs and replaced the pliers with a hemostat.

It takes a pretty hefty pliers to crush barbs on big hooks and the only losses I can blame on barbless hooks are jumping bass.

That makes sense to me. Thanks.

My understanding is that you can have barbs on your lures as long as they are not tied to your fishing line.  Once the lure is tied on you need to flatten the barbs.

I've been trying to find the answer to this question:

In Quetico is it legal to have barbed baits in your possession as long as the only hooks you are fishing with are barbless?

I frequently fish barbless on small ponds around home. When I select a bait I simply flatten the barbs with my pliers and start fishing. I don't want to preemptively make all my baits barbless.

TIA.

The Beaver