New Amendments to the Federal Impact Assessment Act

The federal government is continuing to work towards updating the Environmental Assessment Act and process. The Act puts in place a process for assessing the environmental, health, social and economic effects of designated projects. The Act has been recently amended by the Budget Implementation Act. The changes notably: "replace the definition 'effects within federal jurisdiction' with 'adverse effects within federal jurisdiction' and, in doing so,

• restrict the definition to non-negligible adverse changes,
• limit transboundary changes to those involving the pollution of transboundary waters and the marine environment, and
• include, in respect of federal works or undertakings and activities carried out on federal lands, non-negligible adverse changes to the environment or to health, social and economic conditions."

According to the federal government these changes will ensure that the impact assessment process applies only to those physical activities that may cause adverse effects within federal jurisdiction or direct or incidental adverse effects.

The changes will also amend the final decision-making provisions to provide for an initial determination as to whether the adverse effects within federal jurisdiction and the direct or incidental adverse effects are likely to be, to some extent, significant, and then, if so, provide for a determination as to whether those effects are justified in the public interest; and improve cooperation tools to better harmonize the impact assessment process with the processes for assessing effects that are followed by provincial and Indigenous jurisdictions.

More information about the change, including any additional effective dates, is available here:
https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/C-69/royal-assent

Canadian Water and Wastewater Association