A 100+ km2 public land assembly surrounds the Rouge River and Duffins Creek watersheds in Toronto, Markham and Pickering. This publicly-owned provincial, federal and municipal land is predominantly designated Provincial Greenbelt "natural heritage system" and it is:

- home to the endangered Carolinian forest and mixed-woodland plain life zones of Canada, zones with 1/3 of Canada's endangered species;

- the ancestral home of Mississauga, Huron Wendat and Seneca First Nations and their sacred burial & village sites;

- the last chance to create a large national park in southern Ontario, - an area with 34% of Canada's population, 77% of its land in agriculture and human settlement uses and only 1/400th of its land protected in National Parks.

It is commendable that the Government of Canada plans to create a Rouge National Park, however, the May 2012 draft Rouge National Urban Park Concept:

- ignores the ecological vision and policies of approved Rouge Park Plans and Provincial Greenbelt legislation;

- ignores the ecological integrity role of the existing Rouge Park and a true Canadian National Park;

- ignores longstanding plans for a 600+ metre wide forested Rouge Park "main ecological corridor" between Lake Ontario and the Oak Ridges Moraine;

- confines the park study area to 57 km2 instead of the 100 km2 public land assembly needed for a healthy and sustainable Rouge National Park.

http://www.pc.gc.ca/progs/np-pn/cnpn-cnnp/rouge/rouge1.aspx
http://rougenationalparkfriends.com/