This is unnecessary and…

This is unnecessary and wrong.

First there is already enough “exemptions ” for developers to build unneeded housing surveys that are poor planning and way more than infrastructure and our resources can handle. They make millions and millions of dollars off these, the onus should be on them to pay for all studies to ensure we aren’t destroying the things that make Ontario special along the way. Archaeology coats are a drop in the bucket for what they will make. This is clearly another ploy to line the pockets of Ford’s friends, and has nothing to do with the real housing crisis which is focussed in cities and the lack of rent controls, not building more unaffordable endless surveys in farm and natural land.

Archaeology is important. It is the only link Indigenous people have to their true past. These amendments are another form of colonialism, and conflict with treaty rights. Non Indigenous past of Ontario is also important and these amendments will destroy any chance of identifying those rare sites that speak to early settlement and industry

We already ignore and poorly serve much of archaeology with outdated standards and poor licensing regulations, what is needed is to update those to make sure the people doing Archaeology are doing it properly and efficiently. If you focus on fixing that then the timelines at mcm would improve as the focus can shift from them endlessly reviewing reports.

This will also destroy an industry. Archaeology consulting and the associated specialties employ thousands across the province from casual labourers to highly skilled and qualified specialists. These people will be unemployed, their entire careers destroyed, during an economic time when getting a new job at a living wage is extremely difficult.

These amendments conflict with Indigenous rights, destroys our collective heritage, destroys and industry for little gain to anyone but those already extremely wealthy land developers, to build housing places where it isn’t needed.