Species Conservation Registry

Overview

The Species Conservation Act, 2025 (SCA) requires you to register activities that will, or are likely to, impact species listed on the Protected Species in Ontario List regulation or their habitat.

The Species Conservation Registry lets a corporation, partnership, unincorporated entity, the Crown or an individual:

• register activities online in accordance with the SCA
• provide information required for activities that are excepted under the Excepted Activities – No Permit or Registration regulation (Exception regulation)

You do not need to register an activity if:

• it requires a permit under the Permit Activities regulation (Permit regulation)
• it is an excepted activity under the Exception regulation

Activities that must be registered before you start

Activities impacting protected species or their habitat must be registered before you start the activity.

Refer to the Registrable Activities regulation (Registration regulation) to understand:

• what activities can be registered
• the requirements you must follow

For help registering an activity or updating or requesting removal of a registration, contact us at SCRegistry@ontario.ca.

New for mining proponents

If you are registering as part of a mining project, you can use the Ontario Business Account. You can also find and track permits, approvals and permissions from multiple ministries in one location.

Learn more about the permits and licences service on the Ontario Business Account.

Permit-only activities

Activities identified under the Permit regulation are not eligible for registration under the SCA. You must obtain a permit before starting these activities.

Contact us at SAROntario@ontario.ca for information on how to apply for a permit.

Excepted activities

Some activities are excepted from requirements to register or get a permit under the Exception regulation. However, a small number of excepted activities require you to submit an exception information form through the Species Conservation Registry.

If you require help with the exception information form contact us at SCRegistry@ontario.ca.

Create your registry profile

Step 1: create or sign in to your Ontario.ca login

If you are creating an account for a corporation, partnership, unincorporated entity, or the Crown, you may use a shared email address instead of a person-specific email address to allow continued access to submissions even if you have staffing changes.

Create or sign in to your Ontario.ca login

Step 2: create your Species Conservation Registry profile

Proponent profile

Create a proponent profile if you are:

• the individual or organization engaging in the activity, including if you are:
  • an individual landowner 
  • a corporation, partnership, unincorporated entity or the Crown 
  • an employee, owner, officer or executive creating a profile for your own organization’s activities

To create a proponent profile:

• select proponent when asked: Are you creating this profile as a proponent or representative?
• when asked: Are you creating this profile on behalf of a corporation, partnership, unincorporated entity or the Crown?
  • select no if you are an individual
  • select yes if you are creating profile on behalf of any other type of entity
• provide your contact information to create your profile.

Representative profile

Create a representative profile if you are:

• a consultant submitting forms and information on behalf of a proponent
• an individual within a proponent organization seeking to be assigned access to submit information on behalf of the proponent’s profile

To create a representative profile:

• select representative when asked: Are you creating this profile as a proponent or representative?
• provide your contact information to create your profile

Assign a representative

A corporation, partnership, unincorporated entity, the Crown or individual may authorize a representative (such as a consultant) to submit and manage submissions on their behalf.

To allow a representative to access you in the Species Conservation Registry:

• Select assign a representative.
• Enter the representative’s email address. Representatives must have already created a representative profile in the Species Conservation Registry.
• Provide authorization for the representative to act on your behalf as required under the Registration regulation.

A confirmation message will let you know that the representative has been successfully assigned.

You can view or remove representatives from your profile by selecting review representatives.

Begin a submission

After setting up your profile, select begin your submission to start the registration process. Representatives can only start a submission after granted permission by a proponent.

Choose either:

• registration form (if you are registering an activity)
• exception information form (if it is an excepted activity)

If you are a representative, select Who are you submitting on behalf of? and enter the name of the entity.

Complete the steps with the required information. Save your progress by selecting continue and save for later.

Continue and submit draft submissions

You can return to a saved draft at any time by selecting continue draft submissions.

A registration may be submitted once:

• all required questions are completed
• you certify the information is complete and accurate

After you submit you will receive an email notification with your confirmation of registration, or a document summarizing your exception information form, depending on the circumstances. Keep this document for your records and provide a copy to the corporation, partnership, unincorporated entity, the Crown or individual engaging in the registrable activity if you are registering on their behalf.

The corporation, partnership, unincorporated entity, the Crown or individual engaging in the registrable activity must make sure a copy of the confirmation of registration is available at the site where the activity is being carried out and provide it to the ministry if requested.

Manage and view submissions

You can access and update registration information after you submit.

Provide authorization for the representative to act on your behalf as required under the Registration regulation.

• keep registration information up to date
• review it at least once a year as required

Select manage and view submissions to:

• view or download submitted forms
• update information in a registration form, following the regulations
• request removal of a registration

Corporation profile report

Corporations are asked to submit a corporation profile report (CPR) with their registration. The CPR contains information on Ontario corporations or extra-provincial corporations carrying on business in Ontario. It is based on information that has been filed by the corporation and stored on the Ontario Business Registry.

Conservation plan

All registrable activities require development of a conservation plan by a qualified professional. Conservation plans for registrable activities that must include conservation measures must be uploaded to the Species Conservation Registry as part of the registration. For all activities, the ministry may request conservation plans at any time for auditing and to support conservation efforts.