Amendments to the Rouge National Urban Park Act – Huge Step Forward
Stephen Hazell
Director of Conservation
and General Counsel
Rouge Park located in the Eastern Greater Toronto Area which houses much of the lower Rouge River watershed – one of the last flowing rivers into Western Lake Ontario – was scheduled to become part of Canada’s first National Urban Park last year. However, the initiative was held up because of inadequate environmental protections.
Today, amendments to the Rouge National Urban Park Act by federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna have been tabled to address key conservation oversights in the original 2015 version of the Act, namely making the maintenance or restoration of ecological integrity the top priority in the park’s management.
Rouge National Urban Park protects one of Canada’s most biodiverse ecozones – home to a number of rare and at-risk species, and unique ecosystems that are not adequately captured in the country’s protected areas network. The park also falls on the eastern edge of one of Canada’s largest metropolitan areas, the Greater Toronto Area, making it an important and accessible area for millions of urban Canadians to connect with nature. Nature Canada’s national NatureHood program speaks to the same objective, citing the value of urban protected areas in addressing so-called “nature deficit disorder”.
Little Rouge Creek in Rouge Park. Photo by Stefan Ogrisek (CC BY 2.0)
The amendments introduced in today’s Bill improve the ecological protections for Rouge National Urban Park and underscore the importance of landscape connectivity in the region. They ensure that park management decisions necessarily protect natural resources and natural processes, giving nature the best chance to flourish.
“The Rouge National Urban Park represents a huge conservation achievement in one of Canada’s most heavily populated and developed regions,” says Alex MacDonald, Nature Canada’s Senior Conservation Manager. “With today’s amendments we’re confident that Parks Canada’s management decisions for the area will enhance nature and natural processes over time – a key proviso given the unique setting for this park.” he adds.
Nature Canada looks forward to reviewing future management plans for the site to see how enhanced landscape connectivity and the maintenance and restoration of ecological integrity are taken into consideration.
Nature Canada has also been calling for greater protection of this site – along with 6 other proposed protected areas. To read more about this critically important site and others – visit here.
