Amendments to the Species at Risk in Ontario List in response to COSSARO's 2023 Annual Report

The Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario (COSSARO) is an independent committee established under the Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA). COSSARO is responsible for classifying species at risk based on established criteria.

As outlined in the ESA, COSSARO has to submit an annual report to the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks that includes the outcomes of species assessment meetings held since the submission of their previous report. The annual report must include:

• the classification of each species assessed
• a summary of listing decision rationales.

If the annual report sets out new species classifications, then the Species At Risk in Ontario (SARO) List regulation (Ontario Regulation 230/08) has to be amended within 12 months of the minister receiving the annual report. The amendment will reflect the new species classifications in the SARO List.

Updates to the Species at Risk in Ontario List

On January 31, 2024, the minister received COSSARO’s 2023 Annual Report. As required by the ESA, we amended the SARO List to reflect the new species classifications set out in the report. The SARO List has been updated to reflect:

1. Three new species:
   • Eastern Red Bat (Lasiurus borealis), a mammal, was classified as endangered.
   • Hoary Bat (Lasiurus cinereus), a mammal, was classified as endangered.
   • Silver-haired Bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans), a mammal, was classified as endangered.
2. The reclassification of one species:
   • Eastern Whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus), a bird, which was previously classified as threatened has been reclassified as special concern.

Protection under the Endangered Species Act, 2007

Under the ESA, species that are newly classified automatically receive the following protections unless protections are temporarily suspended through a minister’s order by regulation:

• Subsection 9 (1) prohibits killing, harming, harassing, capturing, taking, collecting, possessing, transporting, buying, selling or trading species classified as extirpated, endangered or threatened.
• Subsection 10 (1) prohibits damaging and destroying the habitat of species classified as endangered or threatened.

Species and habitat protections cease to apply to a species and its habitat once the SARO List has been updated to reclassify the species from extirpated, endangered or threatened to special concern or not at risk.

The ESA requires that recovery strategies be prepared within one or two years following listing on the SARO list for species listed as endangered or threatened, respectively. A recovery strategy provides science-based advice for the minister on what is required to achieve recovery of a species.

For species listed as special concern, a species management plan must be completed within five years, unless a federal recovery strategy or management plan for the species is required under the federal Species at Risk Act. Management plans are prepared based on the current scientific knowledge for the species. The plans also set out advice and recommendations to the minister on approaches for the management of the species in Ontario.

Within nine months of the development of a recovery strategy or management plan, the minister must publish a government response statement for the species. A government response statement sets out the government’s policy response to the scientific advice provided in the recovery strategy or the possible actions identified in the management plan.