Archaeology is essential for…

Bill 66 threatens to allow municipalities to opt out of provisions within the Planning Act, including the Provincial Policy Statement (2014) which require many of the assessments that are completed.
Under Bill 66, a municipality will be able to circumvent Subsection 3(5) and Section 24 of the Planning Act which give authority to the Provincial Policy Statement (2014) and Official Plan requirements respectively. The protection of heritage is a mandatory provincial interest under the Ontario
Heritage Act, not a decision of convenience at a municipal level. Bill 66 needs to be amended to restore the requirements that protect our heritage for the generations to come.

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Archaeology is essential for understanding our province's past. Indigenous history is particularly at risk if Bill 66 passes. There is little archival or built heritage available to understand pre-contact and contact-period indigenous societies which makes archaeological assessments of these potential sites extremely necessary.

As someone who has worked within Cultural Resource Management (CRM) archaeology, and now continues to work within the Heritage sector in a collections management capacity, I hold material culture to the highest value. The information gleaned from these assessments help to form a better understanding of the people that lived here from pre-contact to historical periods. The materials produced from these assessments can then be used for research, and/or for public education, particularly in the tourism & culture sector.

Since the 1980s, CRM archaeological assessment have become a standard and necessary step in the development process, and it should stay. Canada is a young nation with so much archaeological knowledge left to learn from. Amend Bill 66.