Species at Risk in Ontario…

Species at Risk in Ontario are already facing numerous challenges and are declining at unprecedented rates. These proposed changes, both the registration first process and changes to habitat definition, could have significant impacts on species persistence in our province. The need for development in some areas of Ontario is understood. However, this need should not come at a cost to species who are already facing challenges to continue to exist. Not only do many of these species have huge ecological roles in the environment, they also have traditional indigenous roles which are often not considered in governmental legislation. Because of these reasons, I strongly disagree with these proposed changes. We cannot lose these at risk species. If we do, the cascading effects will have both severe environmental and societal impacts.