The fall of the wild
By Shannon Wilmot
Many conservation groups, including Ontario Nature, are frustrated by the continued absence of a comprehensive provincial policy outlining permissible development in the northern stretch of the boreal forest.
Some protection sometimes
By Riki Burkhardt
Oceans and bodies of fresh water represent the vast majority of the earth’s surface yet little has been done in this province to identify and protect marine areas. The north shore of Lake Superior is one of the most magnificent and ecologically intact stretches of Great Lakes coastal landscape remaining in Ontario. In recognition of this, the federal and provincial governments announced last November the signing of an agreement in principle to create a National Marine Conservation Area (NMCA) in the northwestern part of Lake Superior. The agreement is part of an ambitious project to create 29 areas that formally recognize distinct marine ecosystems across Canada. Other NMCAs have also been identified—such as Gwaii Haanas, which lies off the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia, and Fathom Five National Marine Park in Ontario’s Georgian Bay.
Learning curve ahead
By Christine Beevis
Last November, environmental educators who had deplored the removal of environmental science from the Ontario curriculum in grades seven through 12 in the mid- 1990s cheered when the Ministry of Education announced that it would submit itself to the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR). In this way, the ministry would increase its accountability to the public for its environmentally significant decisions.
Quarry wins the day
By Christine Beevis
A decades long tug-of-war over one of the most significant natural sites in Ottawa may have finally ended in favour of quarry activity. Last summer, a vote by Ottawa City Council gave the green light to R.W. Tomlinson Ltd. to expand its quarry into the adjacent 80-hectare area known as 5309 Bank Street. In 2003, the city designated 70 hectares of the Bank Street site as “surplus land” and sold it to R.W. Tomlinson, despite widespread opposition. However, the conditions of sale stipulated that the company was not to alter the land until the required zoning change, from agricultural general to resource extraction, was approved. R.W. Tomlinson’s application to amend the zoning was recently approved in an 11 to seven vote by the city council.
Bands ask for mining moratorium
By Julee Boan
Eight First Nations bands are calling for an end to the Province’s “free-entry” mineral exploration and development system. Chiefs and representatives from Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (Big Trout Lake), Muskrat Dam, Wapekeka, Wawakapewin, Wunnumin, Kingfisher Lake, Sachigo and Bearskin First Nations have declared a moratorium on mining exploration within their traditional territories. The bands argue that Ontario’s Aboriginal people never intended to give up ownership of their land through treaties with the British Crown, and they are seeking a new relationship with government and industry. A recent Supreme Court of Canada decision has strengthened their argument. In the case of a proposed road through Wood Buffalo National Park, the court said that before making any decision that would affect treaty rights to hunt and trap on Crown land, First Nations must be consulted and their interests accommodated.
Simcoe and the developers
By Linda Pim
South Simcoe has become a development hotspot in recent years, and the focus of many proposals for urban expansion that leapfrog over the Oak Ridges Moraine, which is part of the protected Golden Horseshoe Greenbelt (see “Stop the sprawl in Simcoe,” Autumn 2005). Simcoe lies just outside of the Greenbelt.
Trading spaces
By Julee Boan
Created in 1999, Ontario’s Living Legacy was a provincial program that culminated in the designation of 378 new parks and conservation reserves throughout the province. While negotiating the final boundaries for candidate areas, conservation groups and Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) staff discovered that numerous mining claims had been staked in some of those areas prior to the proposal of their candidacy for protection. MNR agreed that the overlap needed to be resolved without a net loss to the overall amount of land protected.
The weak spot
By John Lorinc
A respectable start, but not nearly enough to ensure that all the talk about smart growth becomes an urban reality.
