To: Hon. Doug Ford, Premier…

To: Hon. Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario
Hon. Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Hon. Rod Phillips, Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks
Hon. John Yakabuski, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry

Re: Proposed Amendments to the Endangered Species Act, 2007, as outlined in Section 5 of Bill 108, More Homes, More Choice Act, 2019

Since 1984, Carolinian Canada Coalition has been a leading ecoregional group in Canada. We bring together thousands of people and groups who care for the environment of Ontario’s most populous region, extending from the Greater Toronto Area to Grand Bend and Windsor.
Ontario’s Carolinian Zone is home to approximately 200 different species at risk, almost 90% of Ontario’s total. Many of these species are found nowhere else in Canada and are critically endangered. Why are there so many species at risk in Ontario's Carolinian Zone? Primarily because of habitat loss. Right now only 16% of the Carolinian Zone is natural, and in some parts of the Zone there is less than 7% natural cover. Widely accepted guidelines recommend 30-50% natural for healthy landscapes.
In this context, we are writing you to express our concerns regarding proposed amendments to the Endangered Species Act, 2007, as described in Section 5 of Bill 108, More Homes, More Choice Act, 2019. Specifically,
• Subsection 7 (4): The Schedule amends the subsection to extend the time frame for making the regulation to 12 months (from the current 3 months) after receiving the COSSARO report.
• Under new sections 8.1 and 8.2, the amendments temporarily suspend all or some of the prohibitions in subsections 9 (1) and 10 (1) of the Act with respect to the species for a period of up to three years.
• Subections 9(1.2) to (1.4) would “give the Minister the power to make regulations limiting the application of the prohibitions with respect to a species. The limitations may limit the prohibitions in various ways, including by indicating that some of the prohibitions do not apply, by limiting the geographic areas in which they apply or by providing that the prohibitions only apply to the species at a certain stage of their development.”
• New Section 16.1 allows the Minister to enter into landscape agreements authorizing “a person to engage in activities that would otherwise be prohibited under Section 9 or 10 with respect to one or more species that are listed on the Species at Risk in Ontario List as endangered or threatened species” and states that “the species impacted by the authorized activities are not necessarily the same as the species that benefit from the beneficial actions.”
• New sections 20.1 to 20.18 providing for the establishment of a Species at Risk Conservation Fund also would authorizes a person to engage in activities prohibited under section 9 or 10 of the Act through payment of a charge as a condition of a permit or other authorization issued or entered into under the Act.
It is our position that each of these amendments could and likely would work against the protection of species, many of which are, on the basis of scientific evidence (as presented by COSSARO), known to be stressed, seriously declining, and/or already at the brink of extirpation, at the point of listing.
It is our position that allowing extirpations of species in any given location in Ontario does not account for the fact that an ecosystem is made up of not just physical conditions and processes but also an intricate web of species with interdependent roles and functions (predators, prey, pollinators, oxygen-production, nutrient cycling, erosion control, carbon storage, etc.). Removing any piece of the system, including any native species, weakens ecological integrity, and may cause irreversible damage, including the decline and potential loss of additional species.
A widely-cited example is how the extirpation of the Gray Wolf in Yellowstone National Park resulted in erosion and declines in water quality far beyond the Park’s boundaries. This is because of the explosion of the elk population that occurred when the top predator was removed from the ecosystem. Foraging by the high numbers of elk degraded the riparian vegetation that was integral to maintaining water quality. Reintroduction of endangered wolves to Yellowstone has resulted in marked and rapid improvements to water quality.
The ecosystems of Ontario’s Carolinian Zone are equally fragile, and the relationships among its thousands of species are equally complex and potentially far-reaching. It is difficult to predict the repercussions of the removal of any given native species from any given ecosystem, but it is our position that allowing extirpations is not an experiment worth embarking on, especially during a well-documented global extinction crisis.
Furthermore, allowing extirpations of species that may not be at risk elsewhere in their range would have particularly serious consequences in the context of climate change. Science tells us that populations tend to be smaller towards the edges of their range because ideal conditions at the range edge tend to be more limited. This partially explains the high prevalence of rare species in Ontario’s Carolinian Zone. However, if the climate warms as science predicts, conditions found further south in the United States where these species’ ranges are centred will likely become more widespread and pervasive in Ontario. Populations of the same species further south in the United States may not be genetically as well suited to edge-of-range conditions that occur in Ontario. If the populations in Ontario are extirpated, it may become difficult or impossible for a native species expand back into Ontario in response to climate change, resulting in a net biodiversity loss.
This is exacerbated by the fact that many species (especially many plants, reptiles, amphibians, insects and small mammals) already face great challenges in expanding or shifting their populations in the highly fragmented landscape of southern Ontario, where urbanization, conversion to agriculture, road networks and other infrastructure have created nearly-insurmountable barriers to their movement. This makes it especially important to protect what little habitat is left, and to restore natural corridors and linkages on Ontario’s Carolinian landscape, and to protect the remaining populations of species at risk.
It is our position that Ontario’s Endangered Species Act:
• Should ensure that the Species at Risk in Ontario List be entirely evidence-based, and that the listing, regulation and protection at-risk species populations should not be influenced by considerations other than credible biological/ecological science.
• Should result in net gains for all Ontario species at risk and for ecosystems as a whole.
• Needs to be monitored as part of a rigorous, regular review process.
• Needs to take climate change into consideration and should therefore ensure protection of edge-of-range species, regardless of the status of their populations in other jurisdictions.
• Should recognize that protecting species at risk habitat generally provides ecosystem services that contribute in an economically positive way (e.g., clean water, clean air, flood control, reduced erosion, reduced insurance costs, improved soil quality for agriculture, better recreational opportunities, better hunting, better fishing, ecotourism, education and public health benefits).
• Should recognize that species at risk are often critical to overall ecosystem integrity, playing important roles in the ecosystem.
• Should respect all constitutional obligations with First Nations (consultation requirements, free prior and informed consent, etc.) and be undertaken in accordance with, and in the spirit of, Reconciliation.
Populations of endangered and threatened species often persist only in the last patches of high-quality habitat on the land. Such high-quality patches of habitat are becoming increasingly rare, especially in Ontario’s Carolinian Zone. Endangered and threatened species typically share these habitats with a great diversity other species, many of them also being sensitive to human activities. Many of the species that share habitat with species at risk are also important to the people of Ontario.
The key to reversing the trend of an ever-expanding list of species at risk is not to weaken the Endangered Species Act and its protections for species on the brink. Instead, the Province is encouraged to develop and implement policies and incentives that effectively create a balanced and secure economic environment for the business sector over the long term. This would best be done by protecting and conserving Ontario’s natural assets and the ecological goods and services these assets provide.
Comment from Carolinian Canada Coalition, a charity growing a green future for thriving communities. www.caroliniancanada.ca