As a student of emergency…

As a student of emergency management, I am deeply concerned by the blatant disregard for Ontario’s endangered and at-risk species. The damage being done to our ecosystems is not theoretical - it is visible, measurable, and devastating. These actions threaten the foundation of conservation efforts across the province, undermining decades of hard work by scientists, conservationists, and Indigenous stewards who have fought to protect our natural heritage in the goal of fostering kinship with our environment. Your government preaches about working with the Indigenous, yet none of this shows a respect for the species and ecosystems maintained by indigenous peoples throughout our history.

It is shameful that those in power would choose to target and weaken the very ecosystems that sustain and protects us, especially in a time of escalating climate crisis. The fires that raged from the North to as far south as the Kawartha Lakes should have been a wake-up call, not an invitation to further exploitation.

As a young adult striving to dedicate my life to protecting Ontario’s people from the effects of policy such as this, I cannot stand by while the government dismantles the future I, and so many others, are working to preserve. How are we to grow, to build, to hope, when the foundation of what we seek to defend and live in is being destroyed before our eyes?

Our ecosystems are not expendable. Our people are not expendable. They are the core of our communities, our climate, and our collective future. To protect our ecosystems is an act of survival.