Bill 5 flouts established science and Indigenous rights to steamroll over healthy ecosystems
 

TORONTO / TRADITIONAL TERRITORIES OF MISSISSAUGAS OF THE CREDIT, ANISHNAABEG, CHIPPEWA, HAUDENOSAUNEE AND WENDAT — On April 17, 2025, the eve of a long weekend leading to Earth Day, the Ontario government tabled legislation to repeal the province’s Endangered Species Act (ESA, 2007) and slash long-standing protections for wildlife and their habitat.

Bill 5, Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025, seeks to replace the ESA, once renowned as a gold standard of species at risk protection with significantly weakened legislation that will abandon basic scientific definitions of “habitat”, narrowing protections to only immediate dwelling places such as nests or dens.

“Bill 5 is a death sentence for endangered species and their habitats in Ontario. Under a very thin guise of fighting tariffs, this government is borrowing from US President Trump’s playbook to double down on anti-democratic attacks on environmental protections," said Ontario Campaigner Katie Krelove. “Far from ‘’protecting’ Ontario, these cuts will give sweeping powers to cabinet to benefit a select few developers and industries at the expense of the public good.”

If passed, the legislation would also give the government the power to ignore science-based recommendations for listing species, remove provincial protections for migratory birds and aquatic species altogether, and gut enforcement of what flimsy protections remain.

In addition to cutting protections for species-at-risk, Bill 5 would:

• Create “Special Economic Zones” where government-selected developers are exempt from municipal and provincial laws;
• Fast-track mining in ecologically sensitive and contested areas like the Ring of Fire without proper consultation or consent from Indigenous communities; and
• Gut environmental assessment processes.

“The proposals in Bill 5 hit a new low of ignorance and contempt for the role of biodiversity and healthy ecosystems — water, wetlands, forests and grasslands — in the long-term quality of life for people in this province,” Krelove said. “We’re seeing various governments and political parties in Canada respond to the US tariff threat by scrapping environmental regulations and ramping up resource extraction — this is the exact policy approach of Trump. The idea we can stand up to him by emulating him is ridiculous and pathetic.”

The Wilderness Committee is calling on the Ontario government to walk away from Bill 5, and will work with communities around the province to oppose this legislation and defend protections for the natural environments Ontarians need and love.  

For more information, please contact:

Katie Krelove | Ontario Campaigner
647-208-4026, katie@wildernesscommittee.org