NDP MPP urges Ford to legislate bird-friendly window design

QUEEN’S PARK — Spadina—Fort York MPP Chris Glover urged the Ford government to make bird-friendly design a standard in the Ontario Building Code as bird and environmental advocates descend on Queen’s Park to demonstrate the danger non bird-friendly windows cause to migratory birds.

Glover held a press conference Tuesday with Brendon Samuels from FLAP Canada, architect Mauro Carreño and Andrés Jiménez of Birds Canada. They pressed the government to pass Glover’s motion to protect migratory birds by making it the law for all new residential and commercial construction to use bird-friendly materials for windows.

“Birds play an essential role in native ecosystems, helping to reduce impacts of climate change,” Glover said. “Birds pollinate plants and help maintain fertile agricultural land, healthy wetlands, and lush forests.

“An estimated 25 million birds die in Canada each year as a result of fatal collision with building windows.

“Making it standard for all new Ontario buildings to use bird-friendly window materials is a simple fix—a proactive, inexpensive way Ontario can reduce fatal collisions and protect this precious wildlife, and our biodiversity.”

The Ford government failed to mandate national guidelines to make windows more visible to birds established in 2019 by the Canadian Standards Association’s Bird-Friendly Design. Some Ontario municipalities, including the City of Toronto, have already adopted these guidelines.

A demonstration calling for the legislation to pass will be held on the lawn of Queen’s Park, organized by FLAP Canada and Shadowland Theatre.

Quotes

Mauro Carreño, architect, BDP Quadrangle

“Architects and designers are more than capable to incorporate bird friendly strategies in their designs and prevent bird collisions, because it doesn't matter how much energy the building saves, a building that kills will never be sustainable. Bird Friendly design must be included in the Building Code to have an effect in the construction industry.”

Andrés Jiménez, Birds Canada

“Like so many things in life, we can all ‘learn more-do better.’ Implementing Bird Friendly Design into Ontario’s building code is a significant step to ‘do better’ for birds, our biodiversity, and the millions of people in Ontario who care about birds.”

Brendon Samuels, FLAP Canada

"Requiring that developers follow a friendly building design standard is the only way to stop growing the threat that collisions with glass windows pose to birds across Ontario. There are millions of birds’ lives and future generations of Ontarians counting on the Provincial government to take responsibility for updating its Building Code to protect birds and conserve biodiversity."

John Robert Carley, architect (retired)

“A ‘sustainable’ building is not sustainable until it is bird-friendly.”

Ontario NDP Environment critic, MPP Sandy Shaw

"People are excited for opportunities like this that bring nature and people closer together. While the Ford government is gutting endangered species protections and making it easier to destroy protected areas we are focusing on real solutions like a Bird Friendly Building Code that would provide needed wins for both people and nature.”

Michael Mesure, Executive Director, FLAP Canada

'The issue of bird-building collisions is now considered a leading cause of bird death across the nation. Asthetically appealing and affordable solutions now exist to effectively mitigate this concern. With this in mind, it is imperative for the Provincial Building Code to adopt the CSA's Bird Friendly Building Design standard.'