The changing legal landscape of nature protection

By Gord Miller, Chair of Earthroots

As 2026 dawns we face a different world of environmental protection in Ontario. A rapid fire barrage of legislative changes have altered and in some cases destroyed a body of public policy that was carefully and thoughtfully developed and put in place over 50 years. That public policy platform had given Ontario a leadership role in global environmental thinking that had produced one of the best and strongest environmental protection systems in the developed world. And this was only logical and appropriate because Ontario was characterized by a profusion of natural heritage and its people were aware and involved in the lifestyle values it provided. Regrettably, we took much for granted.

Few people realize that Ontario was world leader. In the mid 1970s we produced theEnvironmental Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act and the innovative Environmental Assessment Act far ahead of European and other rich nations (and only months behind the Americans in the case of the EPA). We went on in the 1990s to lead the world with the Environmental Bill of Rights Act and the Crown Forest Sustainability Act. Our Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves system was held in global esteem.  We established the first Ministry of the Environment which developed a laboratory analysis capability that was the envy of, and a model for, the world. We led the way to bring acid rain under control and we created Blue Box recycling which was adopted across many nations.

But within the term of this government culminating in 2025, the Legislature of Ontario has thrown much of this accomplishment away. We have a new legal landscape in this province. In this landscape we can no longer take the protection of our environmental quality as granted. Conversely, we must realize that it is under attack from a new urban paradigm that does not share our traditional natural heritage values. If we still value this heritage we must change our passive ways and work to educate the public on the significance of the changes and restore our commitment.

Our new environmental policy landscape looks like this. The legislation designating and protecting endangered and threatened species has been repealed and replaced. Endangered migratory birds and aquatic species receive no provincial attention and the new Act doesn’t even apply to Crown forest management plans. Planning in those forest management units will be combined into fewer,  larger plans which transcend the ecological patterns of the landscape. The ironclad protection thought to apply to our provincial park lands has been removed to allow private commercial development. And, new powers allow the province to designate any lands as Special Economic Zones where environmental protection rules will not apply. Environmental assessments of major projects are now subject to whimsical exemptions.

There has been a deconstruction of the institutional mechanisms of environmental management and protection. The independent office of the Environmental Commissioner overseeing government environmental decision making has been eliminated. The Ministry of the Environment is a shadow of its former substance. Waste management and recycling is in chaos. The disruptive activities of mining exploration are exempted from its scrutiny. Conservation Authorities have been amalgamated (from 36 to 7), their municipal character usurped and decisions placed under control of a vaguely defined new central provincial organization.

Collectively these changes portend to a collapse in the sophisticated yet fragile system of ecological management that has been methodically constructed over the decades. There is not only a threat to our natural heritage of protected public lands, the entire biodiversity is at risk.

Earthroots has stood with others for over 30 years to work to conserve and protect the wildness, wilderness and watersheds of Ontario to be cherished and enjoyed by present and future generations. Those assets are at a greater risk than ever before. Please help us to educate the public and resist efforts to redefine our natural heritage values.

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