Earthroots, along with two other environmental organizations who were active on Ontario’s Biodiversity Council since its inception, have officially resigned from the Council.  The decision came after years of disappointment and frustration with the lack of action being taken by the Council and the inability for the group to come to agreements on how to best protect and enhance Ontario’s biodiversity.

“Participating in the Biodiversity Council meetings had become a waste of our time - they consisted of industry representatives patting themselves on the back and ignoring the suggestions from environmentalists who knew the council needed to be doing more.” Josh Garfinkel, Senior Campaigner at Earthroots, explains.  Garfinkel described the growing rift between environmentalists and industry reps and adds, “We hope our resignation acts as a message to Minister of Natural Resources Donna Cansfield and shows her that the council as it is currently structured simply does not work.”   

Earthroots became particularly dismayed with the Council’s recent publication.  The Interim Report provides some good background information but it is out-dated and lacks direction.  “The repeated use of old-data and terminology combined with a lack of direction on what we should be doing to solve Ontario’s biodiversity loss is extremely disappointing.  This Council is supposed to be the authority on biodiversity issues in Ontario, instead the report dances around the fact that the main threats to Ontario’s biodiversity are human activities like logging, mining, road building, and suburban sprawl,” Carly Armstrong Earthroots Forest Campaigner remarks.

Earthroots has recently published a report that explains where the Council’s report succeeds and where it lacks effectiveness - it also provides key information that is missing from the original document. 

To read Earthroots' report, please click on the following link:  What Happened to Ontario's Biodiversity Strategy? (652.38 kB)

To read the Biodiversity Council's report, please click on this link:  Interim Report on Ontario's Biodiversity (4.1 MB)

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