On behalf of the Ontario…

On behalf of the Ontario Association of Professional Archaeologists (APA) we wish to express our deep concerns regarding Bill 66 and in particular the open-for-business by-law contained within the bill which would allow municipalities to opt-out of a range of provisions included in the planning act including sections requiring archaeological assessment as a component of the development process. These include subsection 3(5) and section 24 which trigger requirements for archaeological assessment as part of the development process. Stripping these requirements allows municipalities to ignore both provincial policy statements and Municipal official plans regarding archaeology and heritage. While this may seem on the surface to be some form of streamlining for development projects, this deregulation will have severe implications both in terms of provincial/Indigenous relations and the livelihood of thousands of workers and dozens of small businesses across the province.
Key components of Municipal Official Plans are Archaeological Management Master Plans which have been adopted by many municipalities throughout Ontario. Provincial support for the development of such plans was a policy recommendation (Recommendations: Volume 2, recommendation 26) which came out of Commissioner Linden’s 2007 inquest into the shooting of Dudley George at Ipperwash in 1995. One of the key catalysts of the occupation of Ipperwash Provincial Park was the refusal to acknowledge and ensure proper protection for Indigenous cultural patrimony, which included in that case an unmarked ancestral burial ground. Similarly, the Indigenous occupation of a housing development in Caledonia from 2006 to 2014, resulted from the failure to recognize the history of Indigenous settlement and a lack of proper consultation. Archaeological Master Plans aren’t designed to hinder development or public works, but rather to ensure that areas with high potential to contain significant archaeological sites or burial grounds are properly assessed and cleared so that incidents like what happened at Ipperwash and Caledonia do not occur. As part of the reconciliation process governments, businesses and individuals all have a duty to ensure that the rights of Indigenous groups are protected and this includes the right to determine how Indigenous cultural patrimony is protected.
Beyond the cultural and historical value that is generated through the archaeological assessment process, the privately operated firms that carry out such assessments also represent a significant industry in Ontario employing thousands of people annually. Most of our members are owners, managers or employees of archaeological firms which carry out the archaeological assessments under licenses issued by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport. Most firms are small businesses which would be vulnerable to the loss of revenue which would occur if even a handful of municipalities adopt the open-for-business bylaw. The impact of this would be cuts to staff of between 50-70% annually according to some of our members, while others say they would likely have to shut down their businesses. This could in turn delay development in other municipalities due to shortages of available firms to carry out assessments in a timely manner. It will also likely result in hundreds of Ontarians losing their jobs and livelihoods.
The Open-for-business by-law does not only put at great risk the cultural heritage of both Indigenous peoples and Euro-Canadians, it will lead to job losses particularly for small businesses and could precipitate events as we have witnessed in the past at Ipperwash. None of these outcomes benefits development in the province. We implore the government to reconsider the full economic and cultural impact of the bill, and remove the Open-for business by-law.