The Ministry of Natural Resources is streamlining its approvals processes to help individuals and businesses access these services faster and more efficiently, while continuing to protect and sustainably manage Ontario's natural resources.
The ministry administers 46 pieces of legislation. Not including recreational fishing and hunting licenses, the ministry is responsible for more than 140 different kinds of approvals, and issues more than 25,000 individual approvals every year.
On September 27, 2012, the ministry released its Modernization of Approvals policy paper for public consultation. The paper describes the framework that is guiding the ministry's approach.
The approach includes categorizing the ministry's approvals under four groups:
- Eliminating the need for approval for activities where there is little or no risk to natural resources such as activities covered by other government approvals processes.
- For specific low-risk activities, we are establishing clear rules that individuals and businesses will simply be required to follow, instead of requiring the current time-consuming review and approval approach.
- For moderate risk activities, we will require individuals and businesses to follow clear rules, but also to register these activities with the ministry through an online system.
- For all other activities, we will retain the current application and review approach, while taking opportunities to automate these processes where possible.
The ministry is taking a phased approach to implementing these changes. Changes are being made first to approvals under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act (FWCA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Additional changes to other pieces of legislation, including the Public Lands Act, will be proposed in future.
For those activities that require registration with the ministry, businesses and individuals will be able to do so through a new online system. The online system will also include information to help guide individuals and businesses through the new processes.
Approvals processes for the following activities are changing July 1, 2013:
Activities regulated under the Endangered Species Act
Relevant to landowners and other individuals:
- Butternut Trees on Your Property
- Working on structures in fish and mussel habitat
- Alter a structure (habitat for barn swallow)
- Alter a chimney habitat for chimney swift
- Remove habitat created or enhanced for species at risk
- Commercially grow, buy or sell plants (species at risk)
- Ecosystem conservation (threatened or endangered species)
- Keep a species at risk for science or education
- Health and safety projects (threatened and endangered species)
- Accidentally trap an endangered or threatened species
Relevant to industry groups:
- Forest operations and endangered or threatened species
- Help protect or recover a species at risk
- Ditch and drainage work and endangered or threatened species
- Development and infrastructure projects and endangered or threatened species
- Mineral exploration and endangered or threatened species
- Hydro-electric generating stations and endangered or threatened species
- Wind farms and threatened or endangered species
- Pits and quarries and endangered or threatened species
- Bobolink and eastern meadowlark habitats and land development
Activities governed under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act
- Serve fish or wild game at charitable events
- Keep a dead wild animal
- Keep, buy or sell a pelt
- Harass, capture or kill a wild animal damaging private property
- Buy or sell wild animal hides or antlers (native to Ontario)
- Export dead wild animals from Ontario
- Wild animal control rules for municipalities
- Tan, treat or preserve wild animal pelts
- Collect, breed, buy or sell a live reptile or amphibian
- Buy or sell a live furbearing mammal
- Remove bird nests or eggs
