The Natural Resources is a government ministry of the Canadian province of Ontario that is responsible for Ontario's provincial parks, forests, fisheries, wildlife, mineral aggregates and the Crown lands and waters that make up 87 per cent of the province. Its offices are divided into Northwestern, Northeastern and Southern Ontario regions with the main headquarters in Peterborough, Ontario. The current minister is Graydon Smith]. In 2021, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry again merged with the Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines to form the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry, while the Ministry of Energy became a separate ministry. Following the 2022 Ontario general election, the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry was split up into three separate ministries. In June, 2024, the Minister of Natural Resources no longer had responsibility for forestry, which was now the responsibility of an Associate Minister of Forestry under the Minister of Natural Resources. The Minister of Mines and Minister of Northern Development remained separate ministries. The Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry was Graydon Smith from the 2022 election until June 2024, when he was appointed the Minister of Natural Resources In August, 2024 Kevin Holland became the Associate Minister of Forestry and Forest Products under the Ministry of Natural Resources. Since the 2022 election, the Minister of Mines is George Pirie, and the Minister of Northern Development is Greg Rickford, the previous minister for the combined of NDMNR&F.

History

The first government office charge with responsibility of crown land management in modern-day Ontario was the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Northern District of North America, created in 1763 and initially headed by Samuel Holland. Holland was initially appointed Surveyor General of Quebec, but offered to assume the larger responsibility at no increase in salary. In 1791, Upper and Lower Canada were created via the Constitutional Act 1791. Holland continued to serve as Surveyor General for both, but openly advocated that they should be separate posts. In 1792, David William Smith was named by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe to be acting Surveyor General of Upper Canada (against Holland's advice to appoint William Chewett as his replacement), Smith and was subsequently officially appointed to the position in 1798 and held the office until his resignation in 1804. The previously overlooked Chewett and Thomas Ridout were appointed to the position jointly in the interim. In 1805, Charles Burton Wyatt was appointed (along with Joseph Bouchette ) but was suspended in 1807. Ridout was named to the office in 1807 and held the position until 1829. The Office of the Commissioner of Crown Lands for Upper Canada was established in 1827. By the 1840s, however, the crown lands department had been established over which the Commissioner presided, and by 1860, this was renamed the Department of Crown Lands. The primary responsibility of the department was the sale and management of public lands and the granting of land to settlers. Between 1827 and 1867, the responsibilities of the department expanded to include the duties of the Surveyor General (in 1845), as well as those of the Surveyor General of Woods and Forests (in 1852). By 1867, the department had responsibility over mines, fisheries, ordnance lands, colonization roads, and Indian affairs, as well. In 1867, the Department of Crown Lands for the Province of Canada was replaced with the Department of Crown Lands for Ontario. Ordnance lands, Indian affairs and fisheries were, however, transferred to the federal government in 1867. In 1900, the department also acquired responsibility over immigration and colonization. In 1905, legislation was passed which renamed the Commissioner of Crown Lands to the Minister of Lands and Mines. With this change, the department was renamed the Department of Lands and Mines. At this time, responsibilities for forestry were transferred to the Department of Agriculture. In 1906, the department was renamed the Department of Lands, Forests and Mines, resuming responsibilities for forestry. It also resumed responsibilities for immigration and colonization between 1916 and 1920. In 1920, the department was renamed Department of Lands and Forests when a separate Department of Mines was established. Responsibilities for immigration and colonization were also transferred back to the Department of Agriculture. The department existed until 1972, when it amalgamated with the Department of Mines and Northern Affairs to form the Ministry of Natural Resources. The ministry was responsible for northern affairs until 1977, and for mines until 1985. It was again merged briefly between 1995 and 1997 with Northern Development and Mines to form a single Ministry of Natural Resources, Northern Development and Mines. In 2014 the ministry was renamed the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, but responsibilities did not change. In June 2021, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry once again merged with the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines to form the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry. After the 2022 Ontario General Election in which the incumbent Progressive Conservatives were re-elected, the Ministry was once again separated, this time into 3 independent ministries; the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, the Ministry of Northern Development and the Ministry of Mines. On 6 June 2024, it was announced that the Minister of Natural Resources longer had responsibility for forestry. Nolan Quinn became the Associate Minister of Forestry under the Ministry of Natural Resources. On August 16, Kevin Holland became the Associate Minister of Forestry and Forest Products.

List of ministers (and "commissioners", before 1905)

Organization

MNRF is organized into divisions; within each division are branches/regions, sections, and units.

Responsibilities

The Ministry is responsible for: The ministry also has responsibility for the Office of the Mining & Lands Commissioner and the Niagara Escarpment Commission agencies.

Regional Operations Division

The Regional Operations Division (ROD) is a frontline arm of the Ministry with offices in 35 locations across Ontario. It plays a key role in issuing authorizations and compliance monitoring to ensure the province's natural resources are managed effectively and sustainably. ROD is accountable for: ROD's programs and services contribute directly to: ROD also works jointly with First Nations on community-based land use planning in the far north. The parties make consensus-based recommendations on which Crown lands will be dedicated to protection and which will be open for potential economic development (e.g. tourism, forestry, mining, renewable energy).

Ontario Parks

Ontario Parks protects significant natural and cultural resources in a system of parks and protected areas.

Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services

The Ministry's Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services (AFFES) program coordinates forest fire detection, monitoring, suppression and public information and education services for Ontario. AFFES also provides aviation services for the Ontario government and leads emergency management planning and response for natural hazards such as forest fires, floods, erosion, dam failures, unstable soils and bedrock, droughts and oil and gas emergencies. The Ministry's entrance into the field of aviation started with hiring Laurentide Air Services to carry out fire patrols however the government soon realized it could save money by carrying out the operations itself and formed the Ontario Provincial Air Service, (O.P.A.S.) in February 1924 with 13 second hand Curtiss HS-2L flying boats that had been originally built for the US Navy. The OPAS was an early pioneer in the use of aircraft for the discovery and extinguishing of forest fires. Initially this involved carrying warnings of fires back to existing fire patrols, to be extinguished by teams that travelled by canoe or overland but soon they began landing firefighters (never more than a few at a time due to the limited carrying capacity of the aircraft available) with a hand-operated water pump near a fire. As a part of this program the OPAS completely rebuilt damaged aircraft before they began building a number of aircraft under license to meet their requirements such as the Buhl Air Sedan, and later provided considerable input on the development of the de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver and de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter and finally were central to the invention of the water bomber. The first water bomber was an OPAS DHC Beaver with a tank mounted on the float designed to dump the water out quickly. This had followed unsuccessful experiments with bags of water.

Aircraft on display

OMNR image gallery