The Big Lie Regarding Ontario’s Species Conservation Act

It seems straightforward enough. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was repealed and replaced by the new streamlined Species Conservation Act (SCA). They both have similar lists of species that must be protected because those species are deemed threatened or endangered. But wait, there is something inconsistent about these lists. The new list of species under the SCA does not seem to have all the birds that the province previously listed and none of the aquatic species thought to be at risk.

To understand this anomaly, one has to learn something about the Canadian constitution. Under the Constitution Act,1982 the provinces have responsibility for the lands and associated living things but the Federal Government is given the authority for fisheries and all international transboundary dealings. This fisheries authority was originally intended to focus on the great Atlantic and Pacific Ocean fisheries but in law it includes all fish, including the minnows and clams of inland freshwater lakes. In a similar vein, songbirds seem like the fauna of provincial forests and meadows but because they migrate south in winter they were made subject to federal protection under a treaty with the United States and Mexico.

The Federal Government has responsibility for lands like National Parks, military bases and the formally defined First Nations Reserves so they do have Canadian legislation to protect species on these lands called the Species At Risk Act (SARA). What Ontario has done in this latest initiative is to remove all fish and migratory birds for Ontario’s protected list (39 species) ostensibly because they are on the federal SARA list and to include them would be duplication. But is this an accurate interpretation of the law?

The Ontario Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks has a system of regional and district offices staffed with trained officers who enforce the environmental laws like the SCA. Environment and Climate Change Canada has no such system of field offices and does not do the inspection and complaint follow-up that is required to implement and enforce SARA. Dumping the responsibility of protecting 39 species at risk on them is an abdication of all protection.

In reality, the major protection for endangered species is applied at the planning level. When a housing development is proposed to a municipality, a species like the Redside Dace becomes a concern. When the province is proposing a major highway then Red-Headed Woodpeckers might be an issue. In the recent controversy over Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, the Piping Plover found there was a critical matter. All three of these species are being delisted from the provincial protection but the projects involved that put them at risk are all regulated and reviewed provincially. The federal government wouldn’t even know about these matters let alone be triggered into action to enforce their SARA responsibilities.

And that is most problematic part of this divesting of responsibilities to the detriment of our most at risk flora and fauna.

Raise your voice before it’s too late!

👉 Submit your comments now: https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/025-1077

Ontario’s most vulnerable species are being quietly abandoned — and Earthroots is fighting back. More than ever, we need your support.

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