Proposed legislative and regulatory amendments to enable the Species Conservation Act, 2025

On June 5, 2025, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025 (Bill 5) received royal assent.

The purpose of Bill 5 was to accelerate infrastructure and development by streamlining provincial permits and approvals to help Ontario’s industries thrive, respond to trade issues like U.S. tariffs, and support the long-term strength and security of the province and its economy.

Schedule 2 of Bill 5 made amendments to the Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA) that came into effect on June 5, 2025.

Schedule 10 of Bill 5 enacted new legislation called the Species Conservation Act, 2025 (SCA). The SCA did not come into force immediately as enabling regulations were required to implement the act. As of March 30th, 2026, the SCA is in force and the regulations have been made. The ESA has been repealed, and its regulations have been revoked. In addition, the Species Conservation Action Agency (SCAA) and the Species at Risk Program Advisory Committee (SARPAC) are now dissolved.

For further details on the SCA, please see posting #025-0380 on the Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO).

The SCA modernizes species protection and allows proponents to take a registration-first approach while maintaining strong environmental safeguards. The registration-first approach – a process already in use in other ministry legislation – allows most projects to begin as soon as they register, while requiring that persons undertaking those projects follow clear, enforceable rules aimed at protecting species and their habitats.

Some activities are not registerable and instead require a permit. Other activities, such as growing a plant for commercial purposes or protecting yourself from imminent harm from an animal, can proceed without a registration or permit.

New Regulations under the SCA

The SCA has been proclaimed into force and the following regulations under the SCA have been made and are in effect:

• the Protected Species in Ontario (PSO) List: sets out the species that receive protections under the SCA
• Registrable Activities Regulation: sets out requirements for registration and rules and requirements that must be followed while carrying out registerable activities
• Permit Activities Regulation: prescribes activities that must obtain a permit before proceeding and cannot proceed under a registration
• Excepted Activities – No Permit or Registration Regulation: prescribes activities impacting protected species or their habitat that can proceed without a registration or permit
• Transitional Matters Regulation: sets out transition rules that apply to existing authorizations or activities registered under conditional exemptions under the ESA

Legislative and other regulatory amendments

Consequential amendments to other statutes and regulations have now taken effect including amendments to other statutes and regulations to update references to the ESA to refer to the SCA.

Amendments to the regulations made under the Environmental Bill of Rights, 1993 (EBR) have been made to make proposals for regulations made under the SCA subject to the public consultation requirements under the EBR and to exempt instruments issued under the SCA from those requirements.

Regulations details

1. Protected Species in Ontario (PSO) List Regulation

This regulation lists all of the 168 Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario (COSSARO) classified extirpated, endangered or threatened species with the exception of aquatic species and migratory birds protected under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA). This list was published on the ERO as part of the public consultation on the regulatory proposal. Species included in this regulation are:

• all of the species that were listed on the most recent version of the Species at Risk in Ontario (SARO) List (O. Reg. 230/08) under the ESA that are eligible for listing
• four eligible species which were newly classified by COSSARO as threatened or endangered in COSSARO’s 2024 Annual Report

The list also reflects updated COSSARO classifications for five species or populations, including for Eastern Massasauga, a snake that was previously assessed as two separate populations but was recently reassessed as one population.

The list does not include:

• 64 species classified as special concern by COSSARO (special concern species also did not receive protection under the ESA)
• 42 aquatic species (fish and mussels) and migratory bird species, that were listed on the SARO List under the ESA, because they are not eligible for inclusion since they are listed as extirpated, endangered or threatened under SARA. Activities impacting these species will continue to need to comply with the federal SARA, Fisheries Act, and Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994

2. Registrable Activities Regulation

​The SCA requires the registration of activities that result in killing or harming a protected species, damaging or destroying protected habitat, and possessing, transporting, buying, selling etc. protected species unless the activity has been prescribed as an activity requiring a permit or has been excepted from the requirement to register and obtain a permit. The registerable activities regulation sets out the rules for registering an activity and sets out the requirements that must be followed once an activity is registered. Under this framework, registrants must:

• have one or more qualified professionals develop a conservation plan prior to registering, which must include documentation of:
  • mitigation measures that will be implemented (for example, installing exclusion fencing)
  • for activities with residual adverse effects (such as those with new footprints), at least one conservation measure to be implemented to support the conservation of the impacted species or habitat (such as creating new, suitable habitat)
• provide key project information online through the Species Conservation Registry, including several fields related to the content of their conservation plan, and uploading their conservation plan if conservation measures are required
• implement the mitigation and conservation measures in consultation with a qualified professional
• carry out their activity in accordance with the conservation plan
• monitor the effects of the activity, adjusting mitigation measures as needed to minimize adverse effects, and preparing monitoring reports
• comply with training and record making and keeping requirements
• update the registration in the circumstances set out in the regulation

​3. Permit Activities Regulation

This regulation prescribes which activities require a permit under the SCA and therefore, cannot register. Permits are issued by the minister who has the discretion to issue, not issue, impose conditions on, suspend or revoke a permit.

The following are the prescribed types of permit activities:

• deliberately killing or harming a protected animal, such as hunting a protected species for sport or deliberately harming a protected species
• introducing or reintroducing a protected species to an area where it does not currently occur
• commercial activities (e.g., buying, selling, trading) in respect of a protected species or a thing that is represented as protected species
• possessing a species for non-conservation purposes, including capturing or taking protected species from the wild
• activities related to the operation of R.H. Saunders Station and American Eel, which formerly required a Minister’s agreement under the ESA
• cultivation of American Ginseng, other than field-grown commercial cultivation, which is excepted

4. Excepted Activities Regulation

This regulation sets out activities that are not required to be registered or issued a permit to proceed. This regulation continues over 20 of the existing exemptions under O. Reg. 242/08, O. Reg. 830/21, O. Reg. 6/24, and O. Reg. 832/21 made under the ESA (such as those that do not require notice). In addition, a new exception for gifting a lawfully possessed dead member of a species is also included to address a gap identified under the ESA.

Exceptions under this regulation include activities related to:

• protecting a person or animal from imminent risk to health or safety
• protecting property from significant damage caused by animals
• exercising a legal authority (such as emergency personnel)
• Species Conservation Program funded activities
• veterinarians providing care
• zookeepers, etc. – possessing, transporting, selling etc.
• zookeepers, etc. – humanely killing animals
• wildlife custodians, rehabilitation and care
• escape or unauthorized release of wildlife
• obtaining care
• Eastern Wolf or Northern Bobwhite, hunting, etc.
• falconry
• fishing, incidental catch
• killing, harming, capturing or taking, etc. an animal that has been incidentally trapped
• commercial cultivation of vascular plants
• Black Ash
• Butternut
• taxidermy and tanning
• Caribou, cast antlers
• possession prior to listing
• artwork, etc.
• gifts

All activities that are likely to adversely impact Black Ash or its habitat in certain municipalities listed in the regulation are excepted. Additionally, all activities that are likely to adversely impact immature Black Ash and its habitat in protected areas are excepted. Finally, all activities that are likely to adversely impact unhealthy mature Black Ash are excepted if a report prepared by a qualified professional is submitted to the ministry through the Registry in respect of the unhealthy trees before the activity begins.

Note that the exception for Butternut trees impacted by butternut canker to an advanced degree also requires a report prepared by a qualified professional to be submitted through the Registry before the exception applies.

The exception for incidentally trapping a protected animal, in some instances, requires the submission of information to the ministry through the Registry.

5. Transitional Matters Regulation

This regulation sets out transition rules for activities currently being carried out under the ESA authorizations and conditional exemptions.

The regulations deem permits issued under the ESA and registrations to conditional exemptions under the ESA to be permits and registrations under the SCA. The regulation also continues agreements entered into under the ESA. The requirements of these transitioned instruments and ESA exemptions must be complied with. 

If the instrument or conditional exemption registration was issued prior to June 5, 2025, the pre-Bill 5 definition of habitat continues to apply, including if the agreement, permit or registration is amended.

Transitioned ESA registrations may be updated in some circumstances and in accordance with the updating rules in the regulation until July 1, 2027. Proponents may make a request to have the registration removed from the registry if they wish to re-register the activity under the SCA.

Changes to a registered activity that would result in impacts to a new species require a new registration under the SCA.

The transition regulation also includes exceptions to transition existing exemptions under the ESA with respect to:

• damage and destruction of created or enhanced habitat subject to a fulfilled safe harbour agreement entered into prior to the transition regulation coming into force
• activities that affect a Category 1 Butternut tree or an unhealthy mature Black Ash tree, when the tree has been identified in a report prepared in accordance with the applicable requirements, and the person engaging in the activity submitted the report to the ministry under the ESA before to the transition regulation coming into force
• stewardship activities that received notice that they would be part of the Species Conservation Program (or the former Species at Risk Stewardship Program) and would be funded by a grant prior to the transition regulation coming into force

6. Regulatory Amendments under the Environmental Bill of Rights, 1993 (EBR)

Amendments to the regulations under the EBR have been made so that:

• the SCA, its regulations and policies are subject to Part IV (Application for Review), Part (Application for Investigation) and Part VII (Employee Reprisals) of the EBR
• regulations made under the SCA are subject to the public consultation requirements under Part II of the EBR.
• all instruments issued under the SCA (e.g., permits and orders) and agreements transitioned from the ESA to the SCA are exempt from the requirements of Part II of the EBR
• references to the ESA are updated or revoked under both O. Reg. 73/94 (General) and O. Reg. 681/94 (Classification of Proposals for Instruments) under the EBR

7. Consequential Amendments to Other Legislation and Regulations

Minor amendments to the SCA and associated consequential amendments to other statutes were made through Bill 56, the Building a More Competitive Economy Act, 2025. For further details on these amendments, please see bulletin 025-1223 on the ERO.

Regulations that reference the ESA have been updated to refer to the SCA. These updates are generally considered technical and include references in:

• O. Reg. 75/08 under the Regulatory Modernization Act
• O. Reg. 153/04 under the Environmental Protection Act
• O. Reg. 191/11 under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005
• O. Reg. 341/20 and O. Reg. 697/21 under the Environmental Assessment Act
• O. Reg. 442/95 under the Business Regulation Reform Act, 1994
• O. Reg. 508/18 under the Electricity Act, 1998
• O. Reg. 596/22 under the Conservation Authorities Act
• O. Reg. 664/98 and O. Reg. 668/98 under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act

Amendments are also made to O. Reg. 75/08 and O. Reg. 153/04 that are not related to the SCA but will update technical references in the regulations for accuracy.

A decision has also been made on ERO notice 025-0908: Developing guidance on section 16 activities under the SCA