Ontario’s Endangered Species Are Under Threat

Ontario’s most vulnerable plants and animals are facing a new and urgent threat. Not from climate change. Not from wildfires. But from our own government.

The Ford government is proposing ERO 025-0380, a brutal dismantling of the Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA). In its place they offer the misleadingly named Species Conservation Act – a law that abandons recovery, ignores science and give industry the green light to destroy habitats with almost no oversight.

This is not conservation. It is permission to wipe species off the map.

We want you to understand what’s at stake—and how you can help stop it.

What’s Wrong With ERO 025-0380?

1.  Science Takes a Back Seat to Politics

The current ESA requires that decisions about which species are protected be made by an independent, science-based body: the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario (COSSARO). Under the proposed changes, the government would no longer be bound to follow COSSARO’s recommendations—giving politicians discretion to decide which species get protection, and which don’t.

This is a return to a failed system from before 2007, when political inaction led to decades of delay in protecting endangered species.

2.  Habitat Protections Will Be Gutted

The ESA currently protects a species’ functional habitat—the places it feeds, migrates, reproduces, and lives throughout the year. The new law would reduce that to a bare minimum: only known dens, nests, or roosting sites and their immediate surroundings.

This narrow definition ignores the ecological reality that species depend on broad, interconnected habitats. Without real habitat protection, there is no meaningful conservation.

3.  Recovery Planning Would Be Abandoned

Under the current law, the government is required to produce recovery strategies and progress reports for species at risk. These are essential tools for tracking threats and coordinating action.

The proposed SCA would eliminate these requirements—essentially giving up on the idea of helping species recover, and shifting the goalposts toward passive, long-term decline.

4.  Oversight and Accountability Are Being Erased

The new law would allow industries like forestry, mining, and development to simply “register and operate” without oversight. That means no review of the risks their operations pose to endangered species, and no obligation to minimize harm.

It also removes prohibitions against “harassment” of species—allowing harmful disturbances unless direct, visible harm can be proven.

We cannot afford to lose the legal tools that hold our government accountable, guide science-based decisions, and protect the ecosystems that all life depends on. Ontario is in the midst of a biodiversity crisis. Over 230 species are listed as at risk in the province, and that number continues to grow. The ESA was not perfect – but it was powerful. It gave wildlife a fighting chance. The Species Conservation Act, 2025? It gives them a countdown clock.

What You Can Do – Before It’s Too Late

1.  Email Premier Doug Ford and Minister Todd McCarthy

Tell them you oppose ERO 025-380 and demand they protect, not destroy, Ontario’s endangered species.

Click here to use our email template

2.  Spread the Word

Help spread the word by posting on social media using the hashtag: #SaveSpeciesON

3.  Submit your comments to the Environmental Registry

Make your voice heard by submitting feedback before the public consultation closes on May 17th.

Visit the Environmental Registry or email ESAReg@ontario.ca.

Let’s be the ones who fought! For the forests. For the lakes. For the wolves, the turtles, the birds and all the beauty that makes Ontario worth living in.

Thank you for standing with us. We need you now more than ever!

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