Government of Canada to Protect Nature in Ontario

TORONTO – Protecting nature is vital to the health and well-being of Canadians, to reverse biodiversity loss, and to fight climate change. That’s why the Government of Canada launched the greatest nature conservation campaign in Canada’s his- tory, with a goal of protecting thirty percent of Canada’s lands and waters by 2030. Protected lands help to guarantee future generations can enjoy the benefits that natural greenspaces provide to their communities.

On January 26, 2023, the Honorable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, announced over $8 million to protect and enhance three critical natural spaces in Ontario. These include:

More than $3.5 million for the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System. This developing greenspace stretches from the Western edge of Lake Ontario to the Niagara Escarpment. This pilot project, under the Parks Canada National Program for Eco- logical Corridors, will sup- port the Royal Botanical Gardens of Burlington and Hamilton, Ontario, and their partners to protect 2,200 hectares of land, to connect wildlife across a very urbanized landscape.

More than $1.05M to better connect The Meadoway to Rouge National Urban Park with new and improved multi-use trails. The Meadoway, led by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), is transforming a hydro corridor in Scarborough into a vibrant 16-kilometre stretch of urban greens- pace and meadow habitat that will allow Canadians to travel, in nature, from the heart of downtown Toronto to Rouge National Urban Park via a safe, accessible, and naturalized multi-use trail network.

$3.5 million through Nature Conservancy Canada to protect more habitat in areas within Ontario that have rich biodiversity like the Rice Lake Plains, the north shore of Lake Ontario and the Frontenac Arch Biosphere, one of Canada’s most important forest corridors that connects the northern forests of Algonquin Park with the Adirondack Mountains of New York State.

The minister also announced $50,000 for the Algonquin to Adirondacks Collaborative, to support a road ecology study to determine wildlife protective measures around Ontario’s busy roadways.

The Government of Canada will continue to work with provinces, territories, municipalities, conservation groups and Indigenous communities to expand the network of protected areas in Canada and ensure Canadians can benefit from the advantages of these protected greenspaces.

biodiversity loss, putting nature on a path to recovery by 2050, including the protec- tion of 30 percent of lands and waters by 2030.

Since 2015, the Government of Canada has launched the largest nature conservation campaign in Canada’s history backed by investments of $5 billion, with funding coming most notably from the 2018 and 2021 federal budgets. So far, the Government has protected around 300,000 km2 of land, an area more than half the size of Manitoba.

Rouge National Urban Park is the largest urban park in Canada and one of the best protected urban parks in the world. The Rouge protects natural, cultural and agricultural landscapes, which includes large tracts of Class-1 farmland, the rarest and most fertile soil in Canada. The park is connected to both the Greenbelt and Oak Ridges Moraine, providing a seamless protected landscape in Canada’s most populated metropolitan area.

Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) is the largest botanical garden in Canada, a National Historic Site, and registered charitable organization with a mandate to bring together people, plants and nature. RBG is serving as the lead organization on behalf of the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System, for the purposes of the pilot project funded by Parks Canada.

The Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System is a collaboration among nine government and not-for-profit agencies that collectively protect nearly 2,200 hectares of open space and nature sanctuary between Cootes Paradise Marsh, Hamilton Harbor, and the Niagara Escarpment.

Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) owns and protects land in the heart of the Frontenac Arch Natural Area. New hectares purchased would be left undeveloped for the benefit of nature and would add to NCC’s nature reserve in the Lough- borough Wilderness Block. This project comes from NCC’s three-year funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund, including $3.5 million for projects in Ontario.

The Algonquin to Adirondacks (A2A) Collaborative is a U.S., Canadian, and First Nations partner organization that works with scientists, policy-makers and a variety of conservation groups to protect and enhance the unique ecological features and functions of the A2A region.