Silo Mentalities: Protected Areas and Mining – Lessons Learned?

In 2007, the ECO undertook an extensive analysis of the environmental implications of various land use policies and allocation decisions in Ontario’s northern boreal landscape. The following articles are included: Developing priorities: The challenge of creating a sustainable planning system in Northern Ontario
The North: A Region of Continental Ecological Importance Silo Mentalities: Environmental Assessments North of the AOU Land Use Planning in the Northern Boreal Initiative Forestry and Wood Supply Silo Mentalities: Transmission Lines through the North MNDM's Mineral Development Strategy for Ontario	Silo Mentalities: Protected Areas and Mining – Lessons Learned? Duty to Consult with First Nations Breaking down silos in the North Precautionary approach to land use planning A clean slate for land use planning in the North

In 1999, MNR released Ontario’s Living Legacy (OLL) Land Use Strategy, which recommended the creation of 378 new protected areas on Crown lands in Ontario. However, it later was revealed by an EBR application that there were mining claims staked on 66 of the proposed provincial parks and conservation reserves. The claims had been staked either before the protected areas were proposed, or after they were proposed but before MNR requested that MNDM remove the areas from eligibility.

The mining disentanglement exercise coming out of the OLL process has long been a concern for the ECO. A handful of the sites identified for disentanglement still require resolution and, ideally, to be regulated as protected areas. Problems still remain almost 10 years after sites were recommended for protection and five years after MNR and MNDM said they initiated a process to fix the situation. For example, among the remaining sites with unresolved claims are the proposed Lake Superior Highlands Conservation Reserve and the Lake Superior Archipelago Conservation Reserve. Together, these two sites represent over 95,000 ha of land.

The Ontario government has a duty to ensure that this conflict between the regulation of protected areas and mineral exploration does not occur again in the future. The ECO believes that lands should be withdrawn from staking when MNR identifies them as candidates for protection. Conflicts such as these are mainly attributable to the disjunction between laws, such as the Public Lands Act administered by MNR to manage Crown land, and laws such as the Mining Act administered by MNDM to facilitate mineral development

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This is an article from the 2006/07 Annual Report to the Legislature from the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. Table of Contents Information on the official document and its release.

Citing This Article:
Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. 2007. "Developing Priorities: The Challenge of Creating a Sustainable Planning System in Northern Ontario." Reconciling our Priorities, ECO Annual Report, 2006-07. Toronto, ON : Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. 66.