I am writing to you as a…

I am writing to you as a member of the generation who will inherit this land after you. It is our responsibility to manage this land beyond the benefit of our own age, for the generations that follow and for the land that will outlive us all. In amending the Endangered Species Act, you erode Ontario’s commitment to protecting its native species, and the landscape which defines our province.

The “slow and complex” process that you intend to get rid of is designed to stop self-interested actors from permanently altering land that has remained an essential ecosystem for millennia. The delays and costs that you deem “unnecessary” allow for a consideration of the necessary protections of animal and plant species who cannot consent to our disruption of the essential lands and resources that make up their habitat.

Under your proposed amendments to the SCA, an individual would be in their rights to commit actions which would harm a species so long as they were registered. By that logic, a person could demolish their neighbour’s home so long as they had the appropriate paperwork.

I implore you to think beyond the short term benefits that such changes will have for human expansion to the longterm ecological implications that could impact our province far beyond the scope and scale of these amendments.