Species at risk in Ontario …

Species at risk in Ontario are indicators of a degrading and degraded ecosystem. Instead of weakening the laws that we had in place to make it easier to destroy more habitat of species at risk, thus increasing the NUMBER of species at risk, we should be developing regulations that strengthen protection for these species and their habitat.

Three simple over-arching goals of any effective protection that would be provided by species at risk legislation should include:

(a) identify species at risk based on the best available scientific information, including
information obtained from community knowledge and Indigenous traditional
knowledge;
(b) protect species that are at risk and their habitats and to promote the recovery of
species that are at risk; and
(c) promote stewardship activities to assist in the protection and recovery of species
that are at risk

Species that have already been identified should not be removed just because they are protected by federal legislation. The provincial legislation should be complementary.

A species habitat must include areas where the species feeds, hunts, roosts, and seeks protection from predators, not just the narrow area where it nests or dens. The latter definition is like saying a human only needs their bedrooms in a house, but not a grocery store or recreation area or even a livingroom. How long would we live under those conditions?

Development of more housing for humans needs to be restricted to already built-up areas near infrastructure. It should not happen on farmland, or in woodlands or wetlands where species at risk reside. Nor do we need more roads, but more public transit on current roads. Good planning can accomplish both a healthy ecosystem and a healthy economy for Ontario residents.

I could go on, but the ESA from 2007 is in front of you and I don't need to reiterate all that is known about how to protect and restore species at risk

If we are to have a healthy ecosystem to support our human communities into the future, we need to protect healthy habitat for species at risk and ones that are in decline because they are the indicators that tell us our life support system is still functioning.