The Impact of Bill 5 on Threatened and Endangered Species

The Government of Ontario has proposed to replace Ontario’s Endangered Species Act (ESA), which serves to protect species at risk and habitats they require to survive, with Bill 5 entitled “Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025”. This bill proposes to first make significant amendments to the ESA and then replace it altogether with much weaker legislation. While these specific changes have been well covered, we feel that some of the effects of Bill 5 are best illustrated by using tangible examples from threatened and endangered species currently found in Ontario. In total, there are around 270 plants and animals in Ontario that are listed under the ESA and the following accounts are based on our scientific knowledge of six of these species and direct experiences with studying them in the field.  

Redside Dace

The endangered redside dace is a small surface feeding fish that inhabits cold water streams in southern Ontario. More than three quarters of redside dace in Canada occur within the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Unfortunately, this species is highly sensitive to habitat disturbance, including run-off from roads and highways, water pollution, and urbanization. Consequently, most populations within the GTA and across southern Ontario have experienced significant declines over the last few decades.

Under the “recovery” mandate of the current ESA, the province supports a successful captive breeding program that will allow individuals to be reintroduced to newly restored areas, bolstering the species long-term viability. However, because species “recovery” will no longer be a goal under Bill 5, it is highly unlikely that captive breeding programs will continue, thereby removing one of the most important tools available to stem declines of this species.

Furthermore, several redside dace populations occur within the pathway of the proposed Highway 413, making this species a controversial flashpoint. However, Bill 5 provides the possibility that the government could designate the area where Highway 413 would be developed as a “Special Economic Zone”, which would allow proponents to proceed without further regulation to protect this species or any others that occur within the highway path. With no resources for recovery and no regulation for protection, we risk losing the redside dace altogether, something that would be otherwise preventable with proper legislation. 

An endangered redside dace that has been raised in captivity and ready to be released in Ontario © Trevor Pitcher

Eastern Small-footed Bat

Alarmingly, seven of the eight species of bats that occur in Ontario are listed as Endangered. Eastern small-footed bats are one of these endangered species and primarily live along the Niagara Escarpment and Ottawa Valley. The main threat facing this species is development, including along the Niagara escarpment, areas within the Greenbelt and the proposed Highway 413.

During the day, eastern small-footed bats roost under boulders and in crevices along rocky slopes and surrounding forests. Under the current ESA, these habitats are all protected. However, given their very specific habitat needs, eastern small footed bats are sensitive to habitat alteration. Removal or destruction of habitat would almost certainly cause the species to decline. Further, under Bill 5, “harassment” of species at risk will be removed. For eastern small footed bats, this means that development could proceed uninhibited immediately adjacent to roosts without consequences. The threat to eastern small-footed bats is dire and this species faces almost certain extirpation from Ontario if Bill 5 passes.

Eastern small footed bats live along rocky slopes and due to the rarity of this habitat type in Ontario, the species is also considered rare and highly vulnerable to habitat destruction © Sherri and Brock Fenton

Jefferson Salamander

For a short time each spring, the endangered Jefferson salamander breeds in small, fishless ponds that are scattered throughout southern Ontario. After breeding, this salamander moves up to several hundred meters away from breeding ponds to live largely solitary lives underneath the ground in deciduous forest for the remainder of the year.

Under the current ESA, Jefferson salamander breeding ponds and all habitat within a 350 m radius of the breeding pond are protected, providing some assurance that Jefferson salamanders can survive throughout the year. Under the new restrictive definition of critical habitat proposed by Bill 5, only breeding ponds would be protected but the forests they rely upon to survive outside of the breeding period would be vulnerable to development and resource extraction. In addition, like the redside dace and eastern small-footed bat, Jefferson salamanders also occur in the path of the proposed Highway 413, making them vulnerable to the lawless “Special Economic Zone” designation. Such changes could push this species to the brink of extirpation in the province and, hence, Canada.

An endangered Jefferson salamander emerging from a breeding pond in southern Ontario © Jessica Linton

Boreal Caribou 

This iconic Canadian species, which often have annual home ranges that exceed 1,000 square kilometres, is listed as Threatened in Ontario. Each spring, within their home ranges, boreal caribou migrate from wintering sites to areas they give birth and raise young. Under the narrower definition for habitat in Bill 5, calving sites would be the only habitat protected, meaning that, for most of their life cycle, caribou will be vulnerable to external stressors associated with development and resource extraction. Further, caribou are considered an umbrella because they share habitat requirements with many birds, insects and other mammals. Thus, a change to the definition of habitat not only influences caribou but may also have negative impacts on countless other species.

Some worry that the proposed “Special Economic Zone Act” embedded within Bill 5 will be immediately applied to the Ring of Fire region in northern Ontario. There is also legitimate concern that the ring of fire region will be designated as a Special Economic Zone, means there would be widespread habitat destruction, alteration, and harassment of caribou and other species that call this region home, not to mention the potential for government to overrule existing agreements with Indigenous communities in the region. 

Boreal caribou in Ontario live throughout the boreal shield region and they require large areas of undisturbed habitat throughout the year. Caribou populations in the north are faced with increasing pressure due to natural resource extraction © Juliana Balluffi-Fry

Wood-poppy

We have only five populations of this beautiful plant left in Canada and all of them are in Ontario. Ontario’s wood-poppies are genetically distinct from those in the U.S. and one of the Ontario populations is down to a single individual. Recently, a developer bought land where one of the five wood-poppy populations is located.

An endangered wood-poppy from one of the last
remaining populations in Ontario © Jenny McCune

Kirtland’s Warbler

These small migratory birds – listed as endangered in Ontario and the U.S. – have very specific habitat requirements for breeding. They typically nest in dense, young jack pine forests with a specific composition of understory plants, a habitat that was historically created by naturally occurring wildfires but is now rare on our human-dominated landscape.

For decades, there were no known breeding pairs of Kirtland’s warbler in Ontario but, supported by recovery plans arising from the current ESA, recent efforts to create and manage breeding habitat in the province have been met with success and there are now multiple breeding pairs, a number that is anticipated to increase in the coming years. Because recovery efforts for endangered or threatened species would no longer be supported under the proposed Bill 5, efforts to manage or restore habitat for this extremely rare species would presumably come to a halt, reversing years of effort by dedicated biologists and volunteers. This could lead to the disappearance, once again, of Kirtland’s warbler from Ontario and Canada. Under Bill 5, the government will also have the power to decide which species are listed and which are not, raising the possibility that, should no Kirtland’s warblers remain in the province, it could be permanently removed from the species at risk list.

An endangered Kirtland’s warbler © Terry Parker

These are just a small sample of species that will be affected by Bill 5. All currently listed species and even species that are not currently listed as threatened and endangered will be influenced, to some degree, by the changes proposed in Bill 5. Economic advancement in this province need not come at the expense of protecting biodiversity.

By

Ryan Norris, University of Guelph
Quinn Webber, University of Guelph
Jenny McCune, University of Lethbridge
Trevor Pitcher, University of Windsor

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