Save Ontario's Endangered Species!

To whom it may concern: 

I urge you to correct and re-calibrate the ministry's current approach on how Ontario implements the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and focus on creating stronger species at risk protection instead of prioritizing harmful development activities.  I have CC'ed my local MPP on this email, because I also want them to know how important this issue is to me.

For too long, Ontario has neglected to properly implement the ESA leaving our most vulnerable species of plants and animals at risk of extinction. There are a broad suite of destructive human activities that have been quietly exempted from the rules against harming threatened and endangered species and their habitats. These exemptions have changed the way the government addresses harm to species at risk and contradict the core purpose of the act itself, which is to protect and recover species at risk.

Ontario must stop sacrificing our most vulnerable species of plants and animals for the benefit of industry and development. The current lack of transparency, the exemptions, and the overall weakening of the act has resulted in steep declines of species that were once common in the province such as the chimney swift and the redside dace.

If we continue on this path, the future for Ontario's remaining vulnerable wildlife populations looks grim.

In the midst of the global biodiversity crisis, we need your political leadership. Your ministry must do its part in upholding provincial, national and global commitments to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. In order to successfully achieve this goal the ministry must make changes to its approach to endangered species such as:

• Putting a stop to development projects that would destroy species at risk and their habitats, such as the proposed Highway 413 and Bradford Bypass;


• Developing and implementing guidelines for ministry staff on when to deny development approvals that are based on species' survival needs;


• Increasing government accountability and transparency by publicly reporting on protective actions taken and cumulative impacts on species at risk; and


• Reversing the damaging changes made to the ESA which include: the weakening of the independence and science focus of the CASSARO advisory body, delayed protection of new identified species at risk, the de-prioritization of protection of species with ranges which extend outside of Ontario, and the incoherent Species at Risk Conservation Fund which provides for payment in lieu of protection (pay to slay).

It's time to choose a different approach. Ontario's ESA could be extremely powerful if used with its original intent. It's time to make things right and prioritize the recovery and protection of Ontario's species at risk.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

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