Developing guidance on section 16 activities under the Species Conservation Act, 2025.

On June 5, 2025, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025 (Bill 5) became law. The purpose of Bill 5 is to support faster development by speeding up 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 amended the Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA) and is now in force. Schedule 10 of Bill 5 introduced new legislation called the Species Conservation Act, 2025 (SCA). The SCA will come into effect at a future date when a commencement order is made and will repeal the ESA.

For further details on the legislative changes to the ESA and the new SCA, please see posting #025-0380 on the Environmental Registry of Ontario.

The SCA will continue to provide important protection for species at risk and their core habitats.

People proposing to engage in activities that will adversely impact species or habitat protected under the SCA will either be required to register the activity or obtain a permit, unless the activity is excepted. Registerable and permit activities must be undertaken in accordance with rules set out in regulation or the permit, respectively.

The government is proposing guidance materials to assist in assessing whether an activity is likely to have an impact to a protected species or species’ habitat such that a registration or permit would be required. The proposed new guidance will aim to update and replace the existing ESA policies and technical direction on species and habitat protection. The Ministry is considering including the following information in the guidance:

• guidance on key concepts
• guiding principles and considerations (such as activity-related details and a species’ biological factors)
• public sources of information about protected species locations, and
• other information to support the identification and delineation of habitat as it is defined under the SCA, including habitat guidelines for specific groups of species (such as turtles, snakes, birds, fish, plants, and bats).

The draft guidance is still in development. At this time, we invite you to provide input on:

• specific aspects of the previous policies and technical direction that you would suggest retaining, updating, or removing
• which components of the proposed guidance would be of greatest interest or value to you or your organization
• which species groups would most benefit from detailed habitat guidance
• any other advice or feedback you would like to share about guidance that would be helpful

This notice will be updated as components of the proposed guidance are available for review.