I noticed one thing the present Minister of Natural Resources has accomplished is to have a
mission statement posted on the Ministry of Natural Resources web page. I check out the site regularly
and always wondered why an organization that I thought was charged with the responsibility of looking
after the natural resources of this province didn’t state that in a mission statement. I mused at the time
that if an organization published its mission statement then there might be an obligation to live up to it.
Therefore, I couldn’t help but chuckle as I read, “In partnership with you, the Ministry of
Natural Resources (MNR) manages and protects Ontario's natural resources for wise use across the
province.” Partnership, the Ministry of Natural Resources doesn’t know the meaning of the
word. The Ministry was taken to task by the Environmental Commissioner in 2001 for “thwarting
public participation and public scrutiny of environmental decision-making,” and nothing has changed.
We had a successful partnership in Temagami with the MNR for over a decade. Then someone
in the MNR recognized the possibility, from an article in Outdoor Canada, that we might be too good
an example of true partnership between the local community and the MNR. They used membership in
the Ontario Stewardship Program to subvert our organization. We soon found out that Partnership with
the MNR in Ontario Stewardship means you provide the money, the volunteer labour force, keep your
mouth shut and do what you are told or they walk.

As for “protect Ontario’s natural resource,” How do you protect anything when your depleted
ranks of conservation officers have no gas for their trucks and are told to wait in their desks for tips
before responding? Just to be safe, maybe you should remove the mission statement.
Gaye Smith

Former Chairman Temagami Stewardship Council
R.R.#3, Paisley, Ont. N0G2N0
519-353-7275

We were working in a true partnership in Temagami and the MNR spent a whole year putting an end
to us

Broken Promises: MNR’s Failure to Safeguard Environmental Rights
June 21, 2001

Dear Mr Speaker
In accordance with section 58(4) of the Environmental Bill of Rights, 1993, I present the attached
Special Report of the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario for your submission to the Legislative
Assembly of Ontario.

I am reporting that the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) is thwarting public participation and
public scrutiny of environmental decision-making by effectively blocking the final steps in a legal
process set out in the EBR. I see the need to issue this special report to respond publicly to the long
string of broken promises that MNR has made to my office since 1995.

Sincerely,

Gord Miller
Environmental Commissioner of Ontario