Conservation authorities’ important work being threatened
I have always been impressed by the strong support Hamiltonians have shown for the Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA) and our watershed conservation colleagues in Niagara, Halton and the Grand River.
Conservation areas are a key part of many citizens’ daily quality of life in areas such as the Dundas Valley, Eramosa Karst and the newly created Saltfleet wetlands in upper Stoney Creek.
A key part of work for conservation authorities is to make sure both humans and non-humans alike are healthy and safe. This is accomplished by ensuring houses are not built in areas prone to flooding and wetlands are conserved so streams continue to flow while ensuring areas downstream don’t get flooded during increasingly heavy climate change-driven rainstorms.
The HCA has been doing this critical work on behalf of the community for more than 60 years.
On April 1, Premier Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservatives are imposing a new conservation authority regulation (Ontario Regulation 41/24), which means many streams and wetlands and the species dependent upon them will be endangered. This is clearly part of the Conservatives’ thorough plan to remove all nature protection policies developers see as impediments to sprawl-style growth (witness the earlier policy change to remove significant wetland designations, and the now-reversed Greenbelt lands removal).
What are the implications of the new changes to conservation authority regulations, coming as they do during the joint global biodiversity and climate change crises?
Development along smaller headwater streams critical for downstream health will no longer require a permit and many may be filled in. The vegetated buffer protection area around wetlands has been reduced from 120 metres to only 30 metres or less. Regulations specifically designed for the unique characteristics of the 36 conservation authorities across Ontario are being replaced by a one-size-fits-all regulation.
Moreover, Ford’s crony, the minister of natural resources and forestry, has been empowered to override conservation authorities and issue permits, a shocking stab at the heart of community planning and democracy.
These changes require HCA staff to spend hundreds of hours amending their regulations — time that could be better spent conserving watersheds. Stay tuned to learn more: at the March meeting, the HCA board committed to determining exactly how many streams and wetlands could be lost and where, including providing maps.
Remember, too, that the Progressive Conservatives have forced conservation authorities to examine all of their conservation land holdings in order to identify places where housing can be built. That report is due at the end of 2024. Imagine losing parts of the Dundas Valley or Flamborough wetlands to Ford and his developer friends.
So, what is your responsibility as a citizen of the Hamilton watershed? What will you do to ensure red-headed woodpeckers, chorus frogs, red-sided dace and other sensitive species are not lost?
What will you do if development eats away at wetlands like the Beverly Swamp that hold back flood waters from vulnerable places like the town of Dundas?
In celebration of our democratic rights, we can all agree we must act.
Remember, too, that we are all treaty people through being Canadian citizens subject to the Between the Lakes Treaty No. 3 (1792) between the British Crown and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (and the 1701 Fort Albany Treaty with the Haudenosaunee). The treaties and related Indigenous teachings provide guidance on how we should respond based on the cultural practices of the two nations governing Hamilton, not just now, but for seven generations to come.
That perspective, too, should be shared with Mr. Ford and the Progressive Conservatives when speaking up against his attack on conservation authorities.