© Lora Denis
Barn swallow © GrrlScientist CC BY 2.0
When governments pass laws that set out explicit requirements and timelines for action to be taken, you would expect that they’d be prepared to obey the law. Not so with Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA). Under SARA, the federal government must decide whether to list a species within nine months of receiving its designation ...
There are 1,000s of wild pollinators in Ontario. Bees and flies are most significant, but butterflies, beetles, wasps, ants, moths and hummingbirds also pollinate plants. It is important to keep this in mind when reading about pollinator decline, which has been a hot news topic for many years.
We received deeply disappointing news on May 28, 2015 that has galvanized us in the continued fight to protect Ontario’s wild species. Ontario’s Divisional Court upheld a provincial regulation that exempts major industries from the protection of the Endangered Species Act and allows them to kill species at-risk and destroy their habitat.
Blanding's turtle hatchlings © Scott Gillingwater
Last month, Ontario’s Divisional Court upheld the provincial regulation 176/13 which provides major industries, such as forestry, energy transmission and mining, extensive exemptions from prohibitions outlined in the once “gold standard” Endangered Species Act (ESA).
It is not easy to sit quietly in court while the opposing side takes a sledgehammer to your core values. For instance, as long as an endangered species doesn’t disappear from Ontario altogether, then Cabinet is free to approve any regulation it chooses under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Recovery and benefit to the species ...
Laurel Creek Conservation Area © Carl Hiebert / Grand River Conservation Authority