I am calling for the…

I am calling for the withdrawal of Schedule 7 of the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025.

Article 31 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which has been ratified by the Government of Canada, states that Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage.

Yet, the legislation proposed concerning Heritage would make it easier for the province to bypass archeological work, which is of great importance for Indigenous people.

Archeological sites are the history books of First Nations people. "And without having processes to evaluate the land and to identify archeological sites First Nations history will be put at risk of any potential discovery and learning from it, as well as protecting those sites."

The proposed legislation, though, would allow the Ontario government to exempt projects from undergoing archeological assessments even though archeological assessments generally don't add much time to project timelines, and are important for protecting First Nations history.

Instead of weakening protections of heritage sites, the Province should eliminate an important bottleneck at Ontario's Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism, which is responsible for reviewing reports from archeologists. However, the ministry is understaffed, which leads to delays in evaluating archeological reports.
Article 31 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which has been ratified by the Government of Canada, states that Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage.
Yet, the legislation proposed concerning Heritage would make it easier for the province to bypass archeological work, which is of great importance for Indigenous people.

Archeological sites are the history books of First Nations people. "And without having processes to evaluate the land and to identify archeological sites First Nations history will be put at risk of any potential discovery and learning from it, as well as protecting those sites."

The proposed legislation, though, would allow the Ontario government to exempt projects from undergoing archeological assessments even though archeological assessments generally don't add much time to project timelines, and are important for protecting First Nations history.

Instead of weakening protections of heritage sites, the Province should eliminate an important bottleneck at Ontario's Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism, which is responsible for reviewing reports from archeologists. However, the ministry is understaffed, which leads to delays in evaluating archeological reports.