Fox pups © Carolina K Smith
Please ask the Minister to restore the integrity of the Endangered Species Act
Protecting species at risk is essential for the long-term health and diversity of Ontario’s ecosystems. Yet, Ontario continues to lose more biodiversity than it conserves.
The Endangered Species Act (the Act), affirms that the “present generation of Ontarians should protect species at risk for future generations”. Yet, changes to the Act, its regulations and implementation since 2019 undermine its purpose to protect species, their habitats and promote recovery of species that are at risk.
Stop Highway 413!
This six-lane, 52-kilometre highway would pave over 400 acres of the Greenbelt and more than 2,000 acres of Ontario’s most productive farmland. It would negatively impact 29 species at risk, cross over 85 rivers and streams, and destroy or partially destroy 75 wetlands. It would also cause more than 17 million tonnes of additional CO2 emissions by 2050, the year by which Canada is committed to reaching net-zero emissions.
Please join Ontario Nature in urging the federal government to step in and fulfill its obligations to protect waterways, at-risk species, migratory birds and fish and to achieve its climate commitments.
Immediate Action Needed to Protect Wolf Lake’s Old-growth Red Pine Forest
Please join Ontario Nature and the Wolf Lake Coalition in urging the Government of Ontario to halt mining activities in Wolf Lake Forest Reserve and add the forest to Chiniguchi Waterway Provincial Park.
This is a golden opportunity to fulfil a decades-old promise and protect a critically endangered ecosystem while contributing to national and international biodiversity goals.
Strategy Needed to Implement Expert Recommendations on Protected Areas
On April 1, 2021 the Ontario government appointed a working group of conservation experts to “identify opportunities to protect and conserve more natural areas.” The report and recommendations of the group urges immediate action, proposes a strategic framework for expanding protected areas, and calls for a “steadfast commitment from the top.”
Please join us in urging Ontario’s Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks to partner with Indigenous Nations and engage the public in developing and implementing a strategy to protect 30 percent of lands and waters in Ontario by 2030.
Minister’s Zoning Orders
While we all grapple with the social and economic impacts of a global pandemic, the Government of Ontario is quietly setting the stage for development projects to proceed without public consultation or the right to appeal. The recent flurry of Minister’s Zoning Orders is fast-tracking development on farmland and greenspace. Expediting this sort of short-sighted development while keeping Ontarians in the dark does not serve the public interest.
Our focus should be on enhancing community resilience to climate change and potential future pandemics. To do so we must enable and support public participation in determining the future of our farmlands, forests, wetlands and other natural areas. Please join us in demanding greater public accountability and enhanced community resilience to climate change.
Impact
You can make an enormous difference and it’s free!
Ontario Nature’s advocates helped with campaigns that led to a conservation plan for the Oak Ridges Moraine, an 80 percent reduction in neonicotinoid pesticides, wetland and woodlot protection, establishment of 2.4 million hectares of new protected areas, and much more.
Completed Action Alerts
- Conservation Authorities Undermined Again
2024-05-06 - Hold Government of Ontario Accountable for Weakening Species at Risk Protections
2024-02-20 - Proposed Exemption Severely Limits Protection for Endangered Black Ash
2023-11-02 - Species at Risk
2023-08-08 - Sprawl for all – anytime, anywhere? No!
2023-08-04 - Proposed Mining Act Amendments
2023-4-13 - Broken Promises Threaten Ontario’s Greenbelt
2022-12-8 - Bill 23
2022-12-01 - Vote for Nature
2022-07-02 - Provincially Significant Wetlands no longer safe from development
2020-11-03 - Federal intervention needed to protect boreal caribou in Ontario
2022-03-21 - Endangered Black Ash Needs Immediate Protection
2021-11-07 - Vote For Nature
2021-09-21 - Protected Places Declaration
2018-11-06 - MZOs to trump protections for nature and farmland
2021-04-03 - Stop Sprawl and Grow the Greenbelt
2021-04-08 - Stop the Bulldozers: Developers Seeking Permit to Destroy Provincially Significant Wetland
2021-03-15 - Lake Simcoe Protection Plan Review
2021-03-04 - Conservation Authorities Under Fire
2020-12-09 - Procter & Gamble
2020-08-09 - Say No to More Sprawl, Less Nature and Less Farmland
2020-07-31 - Sauble’s piping plovers need you now!
2020-06-25
- Protect species at risk while strengthening the forest industry
2020-06-18 - Share Ontario’s Forests
2020-02-05 - Put nature first in Rondeau Provincial Park
2019-12-18 - Pits and quarries
2019-10-21 - Wolves and coyotes wrongly accused
2019-09-26 - SOS: Save Ontario Species
2019-06-06 - Oppose the senseless slaughter of cormorants
2019-01-03 - Stop Bill 66: Privileging big business over the people of Ontario
2018-12-14 - We the people are for the environment
2018-16-11 - Caribou can’t survive without a place to live
2018-01-10 - Help secure a historic investment for nature protection in Canada
2018-01-18 - Protect our water
2017-12-08 - Guide stronger protection for nature across the Greater Golden Horseshoe
2017-08-22 - Help at risk caribou persist in the Caribou Forest
2017-05-08 - Stand up for the Greenbelt and stop sprawl for good!
2017-03-20