Five-Year Review of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act

Priorities of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Caucus

The Environmental Planning and Assessment Caucus of the Canadian Environmental Network has worked since the late 1980s on various elements of the development of federal EA. As the Five-Year Review of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act began, the caucus identified issues that were considered to be priorities in seeking improvements to the Act:

1. There must be a strong legislated federal role in environmental assessments in Canada.
2. Environmental assessment must be more than a regulatory instrument. It must be a planning tool and must address federal programs, plans, and policies.
3. There must be early application of the Act to known projects.
4. There must be effective enforcement of the process required by the Act.
5. There must be effective implementation and enforcement of the project requirements arising from environmental assessments.
6. There must be effective public participation, beginning early and continuing throughout the EA process.
7. Those responsible for ensuring that the Act is implemented must be accountable to the public.
8. Decisions taken within, and based on the results of, the environmental assessment process must be based on clear and consistent decision criteria.
9. Sufficient funding, education, and enforcement are crucial to the effective implementation and administration of any environmental assessment process.
10. Environmental assessment must contribute to sustainable development and result in protection of the environment.
11. Federally funded projects outside Canada undertaken by Canadian companies must be subject to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.
12. While upholding the principles of good EA, the application of EA to projects outside Canada and to projects that affect aboriginal rights must be sensitive to the special contexts in which those environmental assessments are undertaken.