Species at risk habitat shouldn’t be open for business
The Piping Plover, shown at Wasaga Beach, is listed as endangered, meaning it lives in the wild but is facing imminent extinction or extirpation. -AWARE Simcoe photo
Ontario review of Endangered Species Act could put vulnerable species at even greater risk
News release February 14, 2019
TORONTO — The Government of Ontario’s review of the 2007 Endangered Species Act could put the province’s most vulnerable animals and plants at even greater risk by removing barriers to the harmful activities that are driving wildlife decline, say the David Suzuki Foundation, Ecojustice, Earthroots, Environmental Defence, Greenpeace Canada, Ontario Nature and World Wildlife Fund Canada.
Most of Ontario’s 243 species at risk are listed because of habitat loss and disturbance, caused in large part by a lack of limits on industrial activity and development. Due to a regulation passed in 2013, many industries are exempt from current ESA restrictions, including forestry, which for the most part has not had to comply with ESA prohibitions.
On the 10-year anniversary of the ESA, the provincial government posted a discussion paper on the Environmental Registry of Ontario and launched a 45-day consultation period. Although the paper offers the goal of enabling “positive outcomes” for species at risk, it focuses on increasing “efficiencies for business.”
The government says it wants to reduce barriers to economic development. But an overemphasis on creating greater efficiencies for industry could subject the province’s at-risk species — and our natural heritage — to even greater threats. Further weakening of the act could push many of these species over the brink.
Ontarians have until March 4, 2019, to provide input into the government’s ESA review.
Representatives from the David Suzuki Foundation, Ecojustice, Earthroots, Environmental Defence, Greenpeace Canada, Ontario Nature and World Wildlife Fund Canada released the following statements:
Rachel Plotkin, Ontario Science Campaigns Manager, David Suzuki Foundation
“The Endangered Species Act exempts most industrial activities from prohibitions, including against habitat destruction. Striving for greater balance is going backwards. We need to set our sights on greater limits for industrial activity to reverse habitat loss and degradation, which is the primary cause of wildlife decline here and around the world. We need Ontarians to speak up for species protection, just like they did for the Greenbelt. We need to show the government for the people that our people include wildlife!”
Gord Miller, Chair, Earthroots and Former Environmental Commissioner of Ontario
“The only problem with the Endangered Species Act is the complete failure of the Ontario government to step up to its responsibilities and administer it properly. Proponents complain that it takes too long to get a permit to contravene the law’s prohibition to harm species or damage their habitat but the ministry has never denied an ESA permit to any applicant in any situation.”
Sue Tan, Lawyer, Ecojustice
“In the decade since the Ontario ESA has been in existence, industry interests have been prioritized far above species protections. For example, the forestry industry has been given broad exemptions for the very activities that most often harm at-risk species. The primary intent of the ESA is to protect species, and this is likely incompatible with the government’s vision of streamlining the act to create ‘efficiencies’ for business. Environmental organizations are concerned that the government’s review will further erode the act’s protection for species at risk. The announcement of this review came only a month after the government axed its environment watchdog, and is one of a series of anti-environment moves.”
Tim Gray, Executive Director, Environmental Defence
“People in Ontario expect our government to protect endangered species. It is also clear that people and industry have both thrived when the needs of endangered species are addressed. Going backward will be bad for species, people and our economy.”
Reykia Fick, Forest Campaigner, Greenpeace Canada
“With wildlife populations crashing and species pushed to the brink around the world, it is incredibly reckless for the government to propose weakening endangered species protections here in Ontario. This would put our vulnerable plants and animals at even greater risk. Ontarians cannot allow this to happen.”
Caroline Schultz, Executive Director, Ontario Nature
“The options put forward by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks would undermine the very cornerstones of the law: science-based listing of species at risk (including Indigenous traditional knowledge) and mandatory protection of listed species and their habitats. This is yet another in a long line of examples of the government’s short-sighted fixation on environmental deregulation that is threatening our biological riches to line the pockets of the corporate elite. The proposed options would make it easier to bulldoze and pave over the habitats of endangered species. Environmental deregulation gone amuck threatens our values, our prosperity and the fate of species at risk.”
James Snider, VP science, research and innovation, WWF-Canada
“Since the Endangered Species Act was introduced, pressures to habitats have continued to mount and the species at risk list has continued to grow. Our current legislation is not doing enough to protect species. The exemptions introduced in 2013 made it too easy to harm habitat. We need to improve protections for species at risk, not water them down further.”
You too can comment – deadline is midnight, Monday March 4.
Scroll down and leave comment in “Submit Online” box.
Or email to the Public Input Coordinator at ESAReg@ontario.ca
Or mail to Public Input Coordinator, Species Conservation Policy Branch, 300 Water Street, Floor 5N, Peterborough ON K9J 3C7
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