The rhetoric used to justify…

The rhetoric used to justify the proposed updates to the Ontario Wetland Evaluation System is disheartening. What does building more affordable housing have to do with protecting our precious freshwater wetlands? Wetlands are crucial to the survival of humans. What good are more housing units when the soil we live on can no longer sustain the biodiversity required to grow crops and have access to clean air and water?

By pretending to prioritize affordably housing over wetlands management, evaluation, and protection, the MNRF acts an agent toward endangering our remaining keystone ecosystems.

I solidly refuse the proposed updates. The proposed changes:
- make it difficult for wetlands that are not protected to achieve that status.
- makes it harder for municipalities, many of which are not equipped to do so, to properly evaluate and maintain their wetlands by removing guidance and contextual explanations from the text.
- encourages evaluators (and non-professionals!) to rely on their judgement, instead of setting down proper, province-wide guidelines to which municipalities can refer.
- have /zero/ recommendations from consultations with Indigenous communities.
- weaken important wetland conservation steps that have been taken in the past and give developers even more teeth to "act first, apologize later".

There are a lot more issues with these proposed changes, and I ask that you consult with professionals in environmental conservation and law, and Indigenous communities, before considering changes to this document.

What will the MNRF do to ensure that municipalities well-understand their role in wetland conservation and well-understand the significance of this conversation for the health of their communities?

These proposed changes are insufficient and unacceptable. Wetland protection, more than ever, needs to be amplified, as these spaces are in extreme danger. Consider the expression: "When they go, we go". You hold the future of Ontario's natural world, that is future Ontarians' health and well-being, in your hands, and it is not worth a few condos.

Regards,
S---