December  8
2025

On November 7, 2025, the provincial government opened public consultation on an Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO #025-1257) proposal to consolidate Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities into 7 large regional authorities. Under this proposal, a new Northeastern Ontario Regional Conservation Authority would be created by merging four existing conservation authorities — Nickel District, North Bay-Mattawa, and Sault Ste. Marie. This new regional conservation authority would span a large geographic area forming a single fragmented organization stretching from Sault Ste. Marie north to Timmins and southeast to Mattawa and include 19 municipalities.

On November 27, 2025, the Province of Ontario passed Bill 68 created the Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency to oversee conservation authorities and transition to a regional watershed based framework for conservation authorities in Ontario.

See our page on the proposed amalgamation for information to help you provide comment to the ERO posting.

December 4
2025

At its meeting on December 3, 2025, the MRCA Board discussed the potential impacts of the Province’s proposal on the programs and services that the MRCA provides to our member municipality, the City of Timmins. This resolution opposing the amalgamation of Conservation Authorities was passed during the meeting. MRCA Resolution 2025-1730

November 6
2025

On October 31, 2025, the Ontario Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks announced plans to create a provincial board-governed agency, the Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency, to provide leadership, governance, and strategic direction to Conservation Authorities (CAs).

The Mattagami Region Conservation Authority (MRCA) is closely following the proposed changes that will affect conservation authorities and local watershed management. The staff of the MRCA will be reviewing the amendments to the Conservation Authorities Act when released for consultation, including the proposed geographical jurisdiction of each regional Conservation Authority. We will be consulting with our Board of Directors and our Member Municipality, the City of Timmins, to review the proposal and provide comments during the consultation period.

During the upcoming transitional period, the MRCA will continue to operate without disruption and continue to work toward our mission of leading the conservation and protection of the Mattagami Watershed. We remain committed to watershed protection at the local level.

June 17
2025

The Mattagami Region Conservation Authority is please to be a partner in Discovery Porcupine’s off-setting project along Porcupine Lake and River. For more details about their plans, see our Porcupine Lake and River Off-Setting page.