Ontario set up a group to look at protected lands. Its report never saw the light of day

Dozens of environmental organizations and advocates are urging the Ford government to follow through on a key recommendation out of a 2021 report to protect 30 per cent of the province's lands and waters for the environment.

The Ford government established the Protected Area Working Group in 2021, composed of environmental experts from the private sector, non-governmental organizations, as well as representatives from Indigenous communities. The group met with individuals from the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks and was tasked with presenting recommendations to improve conservation in the province.

That group produced a report in 2021, but it was never publicly released. Katie Krelove, a campaigner for Wilderness Committee, a non-governmetal conservation organization not affiliated with the report, obtained it through a Freedom of Information Request this summer and shared it with CBC Toronto in October.

"It's very disappointing and frustrating to see that the report has been ignored by the Minister of Environment…the report of its own appointed working group," said Krelove.

According to the report, protected land and waters in Ontario as of that year – including national and provincial parks, conservation reserves and lands held by private land trusts – amounted to less than 11 percent of the province's total, below most other provinces. Ontario designates nearly half as much protected land as British Columbia, but also falls significantly behind its neighbour Quebec, which designates 17 per cent of its land protected.

The report also called on the government to work with First Nations, the public, municipalities and conservation organizations on achieving targets. 

Krelove says protecting land is important for biodiversity and fighting climate change. She is calling on the new Minister Andrea Khanjin, appointed in September 2023 through a cabinet shuffle, to take immediate action given the climate crisis and now that the report is front and centre.

Krelove says "a nature-based climate solution" would see the province protect 30 per cent of the land. Such a move would protect more areas where carbon can be stored and sequestered, she says.

'There's no transparency': advocate

Dozens of other environmental groups have joined in with calls for the Ford government to act on the recommendations, sending a letter to Khanjin on Oct. 23, 2023.

Environmental advocates who spoke to CBC Toronto expressed alarm that such an important report seems to have been swept under a rug.

"There's no transparency," said Rachel Plotkin, a project manager with the David Suzuki Foundation. "It just shows this provincial government's complete unwillingness to move forward on conservation objectives."

Plotkin says a commitment in words to protecting more land won't be enough.

"There needs to be a suite of legislation, policy programs and targets that are public facing, that are transparent, that have milestones," she said.

She says the public should be able to hold the province accountable.

Province won't say why report wasn't released

CBC Toronto asked the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks why the report was kept secret and if it would now act on the recommendations. 

Daniel Strauss, a spokesperson for Khanjin, did not address concerns that the report was not made public.

"Ontario is a leader in conservation within Canada," he said in a statement, adding the government has already secured 169,968 hectares of ecologically sensitive land through the Greenlands Conservation Partnership.

Strauss also pointed to other steps the government has taken to protect land, including a new provincial park, Ontario's first urban park and the first new conservation reserve in a decade.

When the working group was established, then Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks Jeff Yurek, said, "Expanding protected and conserved natural areas is a top priority in our made-in-Ontario environment plan and we want to find new, innovative ways to meet this commitment."

Krelove says the environment groups who wrote to the new minister last week have not yet received a reply. 

Still, she said, "We are hopeful."