The Expansion of Sunday Gun Hunting Opportunities in Southern Ontario Has Nearly Tripled in the Last Two Decades

The Expansion of Sunday Gun Hunting Opportunities in Southern Ontario Has Nearly Tripled in the Last Two Decades

Delta Waterfowl’s efforts to expand Sunday (gun) hunting across Canada, including in southern Ontario, have been an incredible success story of advocacy, perseverance, and increased opportunity for hunters. This year alone, Delta Waterfowl was involved in advocacy for six new municipalities to be added to southern Ontario’s Sunday Gun Hunting Map, bringing the total to 195 municipalities that have renounced the outdated restriction.

For Sept.1, 2024, five municipalities were added to the list:

• Township of Amaranth
• Township of Mapleton
• Township of Minto
• Township of Oro-Medonte
• Township of Scugog
• *Township of Springwater (added April 1, 2024)

“The expansion of opportunities has been excellent,” said Brian McRae, Delta’s director of government affairs for Canada with more than 15 years of experience advocating for Sunday gun hunting in southern Ontario. “This year in particular, Delta has had a great year. We experienced success in six municipalities in 2024, which has been incredible for hunters.”

Historically, northern Ontario—often described as any municipalities above the French River—has always permitted Sunday gun hunting, but prior to 2006, very few municipalities in southern Ontario allowed the same opportunities for hunters.

In 2005, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) and the Ontario Federation of Anglers & Hunters (OFAH) worked with the Ministry of Natural Resources to open opportunities for hunters in southern Ontario. The Ministry approved it in a way that municipalities could opt-in or -out of allowing Sunday gun hunting; the decision transferred oversight from the provincial level and gave the municipalities the chance to decide what they thought best fit their communities.

At that time, only 67 municipalities in southern Ontario opted-in for Sunday gun hunting for their residents (effective September 1, 2006). Incredibly, in 2024 the majority of southern Ontario’s municipalities have passed resolutions to allow gun hunting seven days per week, regardless of the animal of pursuit.

“We have met with dozens upon dozens of individual councils to provide comprehensive information on the benefits of Sunday gun hunting over the years,” said McRae. “We explain that not only does it have positive benefits on wildlife management, public safety, and the local economies, but the expansion of Sunday gun hunting aligns with modern society’s needs, where the traditional day of rest has become less relevant. Not allowing gun hunting seven days a week would be like saying you can’t golf or play hockey on Sundays. It just doesn’t make sense anymore.”

For the average worker or working family, weekends are often the only time to get out: Approving Sunday gun hunting essentially doubles their opportunity and days afield each year.

Moving forward, Delta is steadfast in the organization’s commitment towards working to secure Sunday gun hunting in all remaining municipalities in southern Ontario and throughout the greater Canada and U.S. To be informed of legislative issues in your local area and learn about ways in which you can advocate for duck hunters, click here.

“We celebrate this with everybody,” McRae said. “With everyone who was supportive, everyone who showed up, with everyone who called their councilor. It’s really a team effort, and without our local support in these municipalities from our members, our donors, and our chapters, we wouldn’t be as successful in this file as we are today. We won’t stop until everyone has this same access to hunting opportunity.”

To view the most recently updated Sunday Gun Hunting map for southern Ontario, visit ontario.ca/page/sunday-gun-hunting.

For more information on Delta’s hunter advocacy efforts in Canada, contact Brian McRae at bmcrae@deltawaterfowl.org.

• The above maps, pulled from https://www.ontario.ca/page/sunday-gun-hunting, showcase the incredible expansion of Sunday gun hunting opportunity in southern Ontario. It is also important to note that certain areas that contain an urbanized landscape do not allow for hunting at all within the municipality but are still included on the Sunday Gun Hunting map. Ex: Municipalities surrounding Toronto.