Success!

That’s right: you can put this one in the history books.

On May 16, 2007 all parties voted to pass the Ontario Endangered Species Act.

Ontario’s leading environmental organizations are hailing Ontario’s new Endangered Species Act as the best in the country. The new law balances a strong, science-based approach to protecting endangered plants and animals with the flexibility needed to address socio-economic concerns.

Thanks so much to those of you who wrote in to support this legislation. You have helped to ensure that endangered species in Ontario have a better chance of survival and recovery.

But that doesn't mean we are going to rest on our laurels.

The David Suzuki Foundation will be watching to make sure that strong habitat regulations and recovery strategies for woodland caribou and other imperilled species are implemented without delay.

Your efforts are a vital part of the David Suzuki Foundation’s campaigns to help preserve our natural heritage.


Thank you,

Rachel Plotkin
Biodiversity Policy Analyst
The David Suzuki Foundation

Public consultation to date
Opponents to Bill 184 claim that the government is ramming it through the Legislature without adequate public consultation. On the contrary, this Bill has received more public review than many new laws normally do. For example, following a 2003 Liberal election campaign promise, the government announced its intent to update the existing Endangered Species Act in December 2005. Pre-bill consultation began in May 2006 with a detailed discussion paper distributed to all interested stakeholders, including forestry, mining, aggregates, power generation, farming and hunting organizations. This was followed by a two-month public consultation period required by Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR). Then a government-appointed panel of scientists and legal experts studied the best options for a revised Endangered Species Act. It produced a report, which was released to the public for comment in November 2006. Further stakeholder input sessions were then convened, followed by another 30-day public consultation period under the EBR in December 2006 and January 2007. The Ministry of Natural Resources also carried out a separate Aboriginal community consultation process.

Why we need your help
The proposed package of new legislation and programs is intended to provide effective protection for Ontario’s approximately 200 endangered plants and animals, and their habitats while encouraging and supporting the stewardship of landowners. Ontario is home to nearly 40% of all of the endangered species across Canada, which means that we have a great deal of work to do to protect and recover endangered species. Action is urgently needed, because for those plants and animals for which trends are known, over 75% are either already gone from Ontario or are on their way to disappearing.

We need your help at this stage to demonstrate to the government that there is wide public support for strong endangered species legislation. The Bill has some powerful opponents, and we need to respond with a strong voice of support that is documented through the Environmental Registry.

Bill 184 contains many strong provisions, and we must strive to ensure that these are not weakened in the weeks preceding the Bill’s passage. These are:

• strong preamble and purpose sections which clearly set out that the legislation is intended to protect and recover all of the province’s plants and animals at risk;
• a definition of species that includes subspecies, varieties and genetically or geographically distinct species; 
  
• a science-based process to list species covered under the Act (determined by the independent, scientific body the Committee on the Status of Species At Risk in Ontario);
  
• a stewardship program to promote the preservation and rehabilitation of habitat, the implementation of recovery strategies, and public education and outreach programs;
  
• prohibition on damage to the habitat of endangered and threatened species;
  
• mandatory recovery planning for endangered and threatened species;
  
• mandatory management plans for special concern species; and
  
• discretion to the Minister to approve otherwise prohibited activities providing that a number of stringent conditions are met (e.g. overall benefit to the species).

Areas for improvement
The Bill needs to be strengthened in the following key areas:

1. Species-specific habitat regulations (sections 54-55):
The draft legislation provides for a species-specific regulation that may protect part of a species’ habitat that is larger or smaller than the area that is used by the species to carry on its life processes. As a result, it is possible that only nominal habitat protection might be provided through a regulation in some cases. This section should be strengthened to ensure that every habitat regulation will protect enough habitat to provide for a species’ protection and recovery.

2. Recovery strategies (section 11):
The draft provisions require the Minister only to 'respond' to recovery strategies. Instead, the Act should also require the implementation of recovery strategies. In addition, the legislation should state the minimum elements needed to be contained in a recovery strategy, including the identification of the habitat that should be protected or managed to help recover the species.

3. Major exemptions (sections 54(1b) and 56)
The draft legislation provides for exemptions through regulations that would have a significant adverse effect on a species. This provision is contrary to the purpose of the Bill and should be removed. If it is not removed, then the Bill should require that any such exemption be subject to the advice of an independent expert panel and that the matter should be decided in the Legislature where it would be subject to full public scrutiny and debate.

If you want more info on Bill 184 see:
http://www.ontla.on.ca/bills/bills-files/38_Parliament/Session2/b184.pdf .