We must act swiftly to save our wilderness and biodiversity
Ontario’s new provincial urban park inspires the protection of threatened natural areas in the GMA
By Irwin Rapoport
August 1, 2024
As urban sprawl continues unabated, many and with good reason, fear that development in Canada’s major cities continues to wipe out wilderness and wetlands, green spaces, and agricultural land. You witness it seriously in the Greater Toronto Area and the Greater Montreal Area (GMA).
Natural spaces and farmland continue to be gobbled up to make way for residential, commercial, and industrial development. Now, we have residents in five Laurentian municipalities banding together to prevent the opening of an open-pit graphite mine in the Laurentians to provide material for the production of batteries for electric vehicles. Check out The Gazette article entitled “Quebec town leaders, residents unite to decide fate of mine with ties to Pentagon / We don’t want to have a gigantic open pit mine in the middle of all those lakes and all those people living around them”.
As urban sprawl continues unabated, many and with good reason, fear that development in Canada’s major cities continues to wipe out wilderness and wetlands, green spaces, and agricultural land.
Without question, this mining project must be stopped and we need the federal and provincial governments to intervene to scrap the mine before it starts. This also applies to the Northvolt electric battery plant in Saint-Basile-le-Grand, which will result in the destruction of numerous wetlands and more than 14,000 trees being chopped down.
We are witnessing the demise of wilderness areas, green spaces, and farmland on the island of Montreal, Laval, North Shore and South Shore regions, and when one drives along the Laurentian Autoroute, the spread of urban sprawl and industrial development on either side of the highway and into the interior continues unabated. It is distressing to see this happen before our eyes, and there is no sign that it will be slowed down or ended. This is a tragedy and we are already paying the price, as are nature and biodiversity.
Environmental groups and individuals have been working tirelessly to prevent natural spaces from being destroyed on the island of Montreal. These wins include the protection of Angell Woods in Beaconsfield, the L’Anse à l’Orme Wilderness in Pierrefonds, and the protection of the Meadowbrook golf course from a residential development project. Les amis du parc Meadowbrook is now striving to have the 57-hectare golf course converted into a municipal nature park.
‘Environmental groups and individuals have been working tirelessly to prevent natural spaces from being destroyed on the island of Montreal.’
Areas that require urgent protection are the Technoparc wetlands and wilderness in Saint Laurent and Dorval, and the Fairview Forest in Pointe-Claire. Sauvons la Forêt Fairview/Save Fairview Forest and TechnoparcOiseaux, along with the Green Coalition, are in the thick of the fight to save these areas to keep them wild and provide a safe home for wildlife. They can use our help and support to succeed in their goals.
I have some exciting news to report that will bolster our efforts locally. On July 1, the province of Ontario opened its newest provincial park – Uxbridge Urban Provincial Park, about 70 kilometres northeast of Toronto. A June 29 CBC report, entitled “Ontario’s newest provincial park, Uxbridge Urban, opens July 1” tells the story.
This news provides the basis for other provinces and the federal government to initiate similar actions. A key lesson in the article is that residents united to protect their local wilderness area from development. They organized and launched a campaign. They secured help from elected officials and scored a victory with a park that will be expanded in the future. They were not intimidated, and despite the odds against them, prevailed.
The federal government stressed how it wanted to establish urban national parks in every province. So far, in Greater Montreal, we have not seen any concrete action on this front. This is disappointing and distressing as the federal government is very aware of the crucial need to establish one if not several.
‘The federal government stressed how it wanted to establish urban national parks in every province. So far, in Greater Montreal, we have not seen any concrete action on this front.’
Three such parks can be created easily and these would be:
- Meadowbrook golf course in the City of Côte Saint Luc and the Borough of Lachine, owned by Group Pacific
. - Fairview Forest, complete with many mature trees and a multitude of birds, mammals, and snakes, owned by Cadillac Fairview
. - Technoparc wetlands and wilderness, 215 hectares owned by the city of Montreal, the federal government, and several companies
That these three areas were not developed in the past is a miracle. The Fairview Forest has essentially not been touched, Meadowbrook has been a golf course for decades, and the Technoparc wetlands and wilderness were in the process of rewilding, providing a home for more than 180 species of birds and many species of flora and fauna, some threatened and endangered.
We can and must save these special and unique areas along with many others in the GMA, large and small. The creation of the new provincial park in Ontario provides hope as it contains several separate sections, which sets a precedent for similar areas to be banded together under one aegis.
‘It is one thing to have leaders, organizers, and experts on the side, but they also need public support to give them authority to pressure all levels of government.’
We have expertise within the Montreal environmental community, including the Legacy Fund for the Environment. It is one thing to have leaders, organizers, and experts on the side, but they also need public support to give them authority to pressure all levels of government. The Legacy Fund is a crucial player in the battle to save natural areas in the GMA. It launches legal cases and is worthy of our support.
Thus, I say, if you want to protect these three areas and others, get involved and support them financially and as volunteers. The war against the environment and biodiversity is a constant one and we have incurred losses, but we have had successes as well. Case in point, on July 15, we learned that the Sandy Beach wilderness area in Hudson may be saved from development. Read The Gazette article entitled “Allison Hanes: Breakthrough in effort to save Hudson’s Sandy Beach”.
We know what to do. It is no longer a question of “to be or not to be.” It is a time to shout “Cry havoc!, and let slip the dogs of war.” We have wilderness and biodiversity to save, and we must act swiftly.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of WestmountMag.ca or its publishers.
Feature image: Technoparc Wetlands, by Patrick Barnard
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Irwin Rapoport is a freelance journalist with Bachelor’s degrees in History and Political Science from Concordia University.
Good job Irwin. I’m fast becoming a fan.
Georges