I am writing to urge that…

I am writing to urge that the provincial government abandon its proposed changes to the Ontario Heritage Act (OHA) under Bill 5. As a licensed archaeologist with over a decade of experience working throughout our province, it is abundantly clear to me that these changes will be disastrous for the Ontario public and the First Nations on whose lands we call home. To give the provincial government such extensive powers with such little consultation from heritage professionals, Indigenous communities, and the Ontario public is to disregard the very foundations of the pride in which we all share for this province and its lands.

As the proposal currently stands, the provincial government will have cart blanche to bulldoze through the past, continuing a centuries-long process of erasure that we are only now coming to terms with. Archaeology is not red tape -- it is an essential part of the development process that the public demands. For decades, careless developers have literally swept away thousands of years of history by bulldozing archaeological sites, desecrating countless ancestral human remains and villages in the process. How can the provincial government make any claim to its commitment to Truth and Reconciliation if it so clearly wishes to write-off First Nations history? How can this provincial government claim to pride itself in Ontario's past while depriving the public of the very heritage which grounds our shared identity? If this government truly had any interest in protecting Ontario heritage, they would seek to strengthen the OHA instead of weakening it.

Archaeology provides an essential service to this province. At the same time that it helps us to understand and safeguard the past, it also charts a path forward for Ontarians by making the past accessible to future generations. Importantly, it also advances Truth and Reconciliation through the consultation process which provides First Nations with the right to know about impacts to their treaty and traditional territories and the right to steward their heritage. For these reasons, I stand with Ontario's First Nations, the archaeological community, and the public in urging the provincial government to drop their proposed changes to the OHA under Bill 5 and commit to safeguarding Ontario's heritage.