In July 2008, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced a world-leading commitment to conservation-focused land-use planning for Ontario's Great Boreal Forest, including protection for more than 50% of the area. To make this bold commitment a reality, we need a strong Boreal legislation that:

1. Creates a well-resourced joint Planning Board to allow First Nations and the Province to work together and share implementation of planning.

2. Details how Ontario will work in partnership with First Nations to determine the location, use and management of the 50% or more of the region that the Premier has committed to protect as conservation lands.

3. Sets out how community plans will be developed and integrated with regional objectives.

4. Describes how communities will realize long-term benefits from development and their role in management.

5. Provides a clear role for a Science Advisory Committee, including objectives for how it will inform land-use planning.

6. Sets clear rules for the development of roads, corridors and industrial activity outside of protected areas.

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Ontario's Great Boreal forest is larger than many countries. This short animated tour will introduce you to some of the features of this vast region of dense forests, fast flowing rivers and pristine lakes. We start in the province's northwest corner near the Manitoba border, head north past the current limit for industrial logging and then fly over the forests and communities of the northern boreal. As we go, you will see interesting photos and facts in the side panel. Our guide is John Cutfeet from the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) community, located near the mid point of the region. We hope this taste of Ontario's Great Boreal forest will encourage you to explore this region further either online on this website or in person.

For information on visiting the Great Boreal Forest, click here.

The Great Canadian Tour
CPAC

John Glen McInnis as he travels 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay to Big Trout Lake where the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) have lived for thousands of years surrounded by the Boreal Forest. It is one of the last, great, undeveloped spaces on the planet and is one of the world's largest intact ecosystems. Glen talks with KI community leaders who were recently incarcerated after protesting the development of a mineral exploration site on their land without consultation. He'll also talk with the Wildlands League, an environmental group that has been lobbying the Ontario Government to protect this valuable and essential ecosystem. We'll also learn more about the Ontario Government's recent plan to safeguard the forest by reforming and modernizing the Mining Act.

View the video