| Ontario’s hunters have been very responsive to the mandatory hunter reporting requirements that were introduced in 2019. Reporting rates are now around 90% across all species and requirements, but that is still short of the desired and expected level of >95% compliance. Increased hunter reporting compliance leads to improved data, better management decisions and may lead to increased opportunities for hunters in some areas.
In 2022, a graduated penalty approach for mandatory hunter reporting was implemented where a hunter receives a $25 surcharge penalty for each failure to submit a mandatory report in accordance with the requirements and timeframe in regulation. The penalty must be paid before the hunter can purchase any relevant draw application, licence or tag for that species. If a hunter fails to submit a hunter report on two consecutive occasions for the same species, they are prevented from purchasing any relevant product for that species for one year. After one year, the penalties reset and the hunter would be subject to the $25 penalty if they subsequently fail to submit their report again. The ministry is proposing regulatory amendments to eliminate the ‘prevent from purchase’ penalty as part of the graduated penalty approach for a second consecutive failure to report and replace it with an increased financial penalty. A hunter will continue to receive a $25 surcharge penalty fee for each failure to submit a mandatory report. Under this proposal, for a second consecutive failure to report for the same species, a hunter would receive a $50 surcharge penalty. The hunter would continue to pay the $50 penalty until they submit a report for that species in accordance with the regulatory requirements and timeframe. The public consultation will remain open until October 1, 2024. |
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