Ontario trapping regulation updated with gender-neutral language and minor firearm rule clarifications

Plain-language summary · AI-assisted

This amendment replaces gendered pronouns ('he or she', 'his or her') with gender-neutral equivalents ('they', 'their', 'them') throughout the trapping regulation. A transitional provision that allowed pre-2019 class H1/H2 outdoors cards to remain valid for trapping licence applications has been formally revoked, as that window has closed. Firearm rules for dispatching trapped animals at night are reworded to refer to 'a firearm that exclusively uses rim-fire cartridges' rather than specifically a 'rim-fire rifle,' though the underlying requirements (keep encased and unloaded until near the trapped animal, unload and re-case immediately after) remain unchanged. A reference allowing junior licence holders to rely on a pre-2019 class A1 hunter apprenticeship safety card for firearm use has also been removed. Licence holders and head trappers should be aware that the substance of their obligations has not changed, only the wording.

Who this affects
trapping licence holders · head trappers · helper trappers · junior or under-16 trappers · farmers trapping furbearing mammals on their own land