Ontario's Protected Areas should be wildlife sanctuaries not hunting grounds. Kim Roberts, Crack of Light Photography Ontario's Living Legacy was a commitment to sport hunting in Protected Areas Ontario's Living Legacy was the largest and fastest increase in the number of Protected Areas allowing sport hunting in the history of Ontario. Though never agreed to by the public or the majority of stakeholders during the Lands for Life planning process, the vast majority of new Protected Areas will allow sport hunting (all 271 new Conservation Reserves and 48 new Provincial Parks). The move to allow sport hunting in protected areas flies in the face of common sense and public responsibility During the Lands for Life public consultation process, an overwhelming majority of the letters received by the Ministry of Natural Resources were in opposition to sport hunting in parks. Through a Freedom of Information request, Earthroots discovered that 3671 people submitted comments in opposition to sport hunting in parks and other protected areas, while only 17 wrote comments in favour. Province-wide polling has shown clearly that the vast majority of Ontarians in both the North and the South oppose sport hunting in parks > 88% of Ontarians strongly oppose hunting in parks, including 84.4% of people living in Northern Ontario. > Concerns for wildlife protection and human safety were the most popular reasons given for opposition. > The majority of people in Ontario that have a firearms license in their family also oppose hunting in Protected Areas. The survey also revealed that the protection of wildlife and wildlife habitat was seen as the primary purpose for Ontario's parks. Yet, the Ontario Government allows the minority to dictate park policy What parks allow sport hunting? 74 Provincial Parks, which permit sport hunting are listed in the Ontario Hunting Regulations (2001). These include areas existing before Ontario's Living Legacy as well as newly established areas that have already been regulated. 1.Lake Superior 2.Algonquin (Clyde & Bruton Townships & MacRae Addition) 3.Presqu?ile 4.Rondeau 5.Long Point 6.Darlington 7.McRae Point 8.Polar Bear 9.Rock Point 10.Lake of the Woods 11.Westmeath 12.Abitibi-De Troyes 13.Albany River 14.Aubrey Falls 15.Big East River 16.Biscotasi Lake 17.Black Creek 18.Bonnechere River 19.Brightsand River 20.Chapleau-Nemegosenda River 21.Charleston Lake 22.Dana-Jowsey Lakes 23.Fawn River 24.French River  25.Fushimi Lake 26.Grundy Lake 27.Halfway Lake (additions) 28.Kashabowie 29.Kawartha Highlands 30.Kopa River 31.LaCloche 32.Lake St. Peter 33.LaMotte Lake 34.Larder River 35.LaVerendrye 36.Little Abitibi 37.Little Current River 38.Little Turtle River 39.Lower Madawaska River 40.Makobe-Grays River 41.Mashkinonje (additions) 42.Missinaibi 43.Mississagi River 44.Nagagamisis 45.Nakina Moraine 46.Neys (additions) 47.Obabika River 48.Obatanga 49.Opeongo River 50.Otoskwin-Attawapiskat River 51.Ottawa River 52.Oxtongue River-Ragged Falls 53.Pigeon River 54.Pipestone River 55.Point Farms 56.Pretty River Valley 57.Restoule 58.Standpoint Island 59.Severn River 60.Silent Lake (additions) 61.Silver Falls 62.Solace 63.South Bay 64.Steele River 65.Sturgeon River 66.Temagami 67.The Massasauga 68.The Shoals 69.Turtle River 70.Upper Madawaska River 71.W.J.B. Greenwood 72.Wabakimi (additions) 73.Wanapitei 74.Winisk River Conflict with other park uses Nature-based tourism is a growing industry that spans all seasons from the ever popular summer canoeing retreats to fall hikes and winter cross-country skiing. Ontarians visit parks to enjoy quiet recreational activities and the serenity of wilderness spaces; they do not want to worry about conflicting activities like sport hunting. According to the MNR's own files, in the last 30 years there has been a total of 1367 hunting accidents in Ontario; 148 resulted in death. There is increasing concern about the safety of this activity in parks and reserves due to the growing popularity of fall and winter outdoor activities. Tim Gray The earliest hunting season begins August 15th for black bears. Moose, grouse and deer hunting can begin as early as September 15th in some areas. The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) recommends Ontarians don an orange vest if they choose to visit a park where hunting is allowed. During a recent CBC Radio interview on the issue of 'hunting in provincial parks', Brett Kelly, MNR Communications Assistant issued the following warning: "If you are camping in an area where you think there might be hunting, you should take precaution and wear blazed colour garments, orange, hunter red, that sort of thing. And that goes for any activity in the woods during the hunting season." Hunting in Wilderness Parks The activities permitted in Wilderness Parks has always been restricted to hiking, canoeing and low impact camping. Motorized vehicles, sport hunting, logging and mining have historically been forbidden in these roadless sanctuaries. The door to allow sport hunting in Ontario's wilderness parks is slowly creaking open. READ MORE Earthroots is asking for a complete ban on sport hunting in Protected Areas. It makes ecological sense and it makes safety sense.	Join us in protecting wilderness and wildlife in Ontario! Earthroots' work is funded primarily by private donations from people like you. For our important work to continue, we need financial support from caring wilderness defenders like yourself. By becoming a member of Earthroots, you directly support our campaigns. This allows us to produce more factsheets on the threats to our parks, hold more press conferences, and to pay the postage to mail out more information packages to activists across the province. It's an uphill battle to protect wildlife and wilderness -- we need all the help we can get! By donating $40 or more you automatically become a member of Earthroots and receive our newsletter twice a year as well as our special publications.