Archived: Departmental Performance Report 2015-16, supplemental tables, Environment and Climate Change Canada, chapter 8

Environment and Climate Change Canada received 1,558 requests in 2015-16.

The Department processed 1,535 requests, including some carried over from previous years, and carried 281 requests forward to 2016-17.

The Department was able to complete 75% of requests within 30 days or less. 90% of requests were completed within the legislated deadlines.

All new substances notification submissions receipts are acknowledged by letter, email or facsimile within 10 days.

All new substances notification submissions are reviewed (assessed) for their potential to adversely affect human health or the environment and decisions are taken, within the regulatory deadline, to minimize such effects.

All substances that have met their listing criteria were published on the Domestic Substances List (DSL) within120 days.

All of the 581 new substances notification submissions received in 2015-16 were acknowledged by letter, email or facsimile within 10 days of their receipt.

All of the 581 new substances notification submissions received in 2015-16 were triaged and reviewed within the established period. Out of the 581 new substances notification submissions, 11 were assessed as substances of concern. The New Substances program published, in the Canada Gazette, 8 ministerial conditions and 3 significant new activity notices.

All of the 221 substances eligible for the DSL were published in the Canada Gazette, Part II, within 120 days.

Fees are shared with Health Canada as follows:

• two thirds for Environment and Climate Change Canada; and
• one third for Health Canada.

The public has access to facilities, including an interpretation centre and a 20 km hiking trail network. The public also has access to high-quality services, information on the Wildlife Area Regulations, the activities offered, and interpretation services.

The performance standards are intended to ensure that users receive access to services as soon as their admission fee is paid, and that visitors are satisfied with the services provided.

The public has access to high-quality controlled hunting activities, including hunting site preparation, decoys, training sessions supervised by qualified staff, and safe facilities. To access the activities, Canadian residents must pay a non-refundable application fee. If they are chosen by lot, they are issued a non-refundable hunting permit.

These performance standards are intended to ensure that, following the hunting permit application process, the hunters chosen by lot are notified within two months of the draw and that hunters are satisfied with the services provided.

The cost of a migratory game bird hunting (MGBH) permit is $8.50. A Canadian wildlife habitat conservation stamp must be affixed to the permit to make it valid. The fee for the stamp is separate (see user fee on Migratory Bird Program - Wildlife habitat conservation stamp). MGBH permits are available for sale as of August 1 at Canada Post offices, from select provincial and private vendors and directly from Environment and Climate Change Canada through an online ordering system launched in August 2014.

The performance standards are as follows: a) an adequate number of permits are available for distribution for the open hunting season, and b) Canadian citizens or other individuals acquiring a permit can obtain one within a reasonable time.

MGBH permits were available for distribution in time for sale on August 1, 2015, at Canada Post offices, provincial partners and independent vendors.

The permits were available within minutes after transactions were completed. Since August 4, 2015, hunters can purchase their permits online and receive them by email, 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week.

The fee for the Wildlife Habitat Conservation stamp is $8.50. For a migratory game bird hunting (MGBH) permit to be valid, the stamp must be affixed to it. Stamps pre-affixed to the MGBH permits are available for sale as of August 1 at Canada Post offices, from select provincial and private vendors and directly from Environment and Climate Change Canada through an online ordering system launched in August 2014. The stamp is also available in philatelic form for collectors.

The performance standard is that the stamps are available in the numbers required for both the MGBH permits and predicted philatelic purposes.

Wildlife Habitat Conservation stamps were available in the numbers required for the MGBH permits and for predicted philatelic purposes. The permits were available for purchase through independent vendors and Canada Post outlets within minutes after transactions were completed.

As of August 4, 2015, hunters who chose to purchase their permit online receive them by email, instead of by mail, with the option to receive a physical stamp mailed to them. The physical stamp was delivered directly to the applicant’s address within 5 days.

Environment and Climate Change Canada also ensured sufficient philatelic products were transferred to Wildlife Habitat Canada for sale through Rousseau Collections.

The permits are issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada regional offices for a fee of $10. To be successful, applicants must meet certain requirements. Each region can attach specific conditions to each permit. Permits generally expire on December 31 of the year issued.

Environment and Climate Change Canada established service standards and performance indicators for permits issued under the Migratory Birds Regulations for aviculture, eiderdown, and taxidermy in March 2014. The established service standard for a decision to issue or refuse a permit is set at 14 calendar days for eiderdown and 40 calendar days to aviculture and taxidermy after the date of notice.

ECCC has recently conducted a review of its service standards for all permit types issued under the Migratory Birds Regulations and has decided to lower the service standard to 35 from 40 days for aviculture and taxidermy permits. The 14-day service standard for eiderdown permits remains unchanged.

Performance targets for taxidermy, aviculture and eiderdown permits set in March 2014 are 85% for 2015-16 and 90% for 2016-17 and onward.

Where a permit application made under the Migratory Birds Regulations involves activities that may affect a species protected by the Species at Risk Act (SARA), a 90-day service standard will apply in order to ensure consistency with the Permits Authorizing an Activity Affecting Listed Wildlife Species Regulations under SARA.

Taxidermy: All permits were issued within 40 days.

Aviculture: 99.9% of permits were issued within 40 days.

Eiderdown: Only one permit was issued in 25 days.

Performance results for all permit types issued under the Migratory Birds Regulations are posted annually on the departmental website, no later than June 1, for the preceding fiscal year.

In the fall of 2015, the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) reached out to permit applicants (both new and return) through a questionnaire that sought to calculate the amount of administrative burden encountered by applicants  in the permitting process and identify avenues for service improvement.

The results indicate trends that identify where challenges occur, and the written comments by the participants gave suggestions for service improvement.

To improve service, CWS plans to:

• Update standard operating procedures to ensure nationwide consistency in the issuance of permits;
• Modernize permitting services by updating application forms which are available online.
• Prepare information sheets to assist applicants in completing and submitting applications;
• Review permit issuance data for each permit type and adjusting service standards and/or performance targets to ensure quality and predictability of permitting services provided.

All permits were delivered within timelines with the exception of four permits that were delivered outside the 90 day window. The four cases are as follows: One case where there were last minute changes to the application, one where another department took longer to return requested information, one where the 90 days were suspended as per CEPA regulations and one case where the application and the project were highly complex.

For further details, please visit the Environment and Climate Change Canada website.

The permit holder has access to a permitted site and the ability to dispose of 1,000 m³ of dredged or excavated material for each $470 paid. Refunds are issued for units that are not disposed of.

The service standard, effective as of July 2, 2015 is as follows:

1. For the Disposal at Sea Permit Fee payments, Environment and Climate Change Canada will issue the permit holder or applicant an acknowledgment of receipt within 10 business days of receipt of that payment.
2. For refunds associated with the Disposal at Sea permit fee, Environment and Climate Change Canada will, within 15 business days of receiving a complete request for a refund, confirm the amount of refund to be expected.

For the period up until July 2, 2015 Permittees received access to the disposal sites for dredged and excavated material authorized by their permits in 100% of cases. Representative monitoring was carried out in accordance with monitoring guidelines.

For the period from July 2, 2015 to March 31, 2016 Service Standard #1 was met in 54% of cases and Service Standard #2 was met in 94% of cases. Note that record keeping on these data, particularly for Standard #1 was incomplete as the national database was not operational and a new finance system was implemented. 

For further details, visit the Environment and Climate Change Canada website.

100% of the 581 new substances notification submissions for 2015-16 were acknowledged by letter, email or facsimile within 10 days of their receipt.

100% of the 581 new substances notification submissions were triaged and reviewed within the established period. Of the 581 new substances notification submissions, 11 were assessed as substances of concern. Consequently, the New Substances Program published, in the Canada Gazette, 8 ministerial conditions and 3 significant new activity notices.

Wildlife Habitat Conservation stamps were available in the numbers required for the migratory game bird hunting permits and for predicted philatelic purposes. The permits were available for purchase through independent vendors and Canada Post outlets within minutes after transactions were completed.

As of August 4^th, 2015, hunters who chose to purchase their permit online receive them by email, instead of by mail, with the option to receive a physical stamp mailed to them. The physical stamp was delivered directly to the applicant’s address within 5 days.

Environment and Climate Change Canada also ensured sufficient philatelic products were transferred to Wildlife Habitat Canada for sale through Rousseau Collections.

Taxidermy: All permits were issued within 40 days.

Aviculture: 99.9% of permits were issued within 40 days.

Eiderdown: Only one permit was issued in 25 days.

Performance results for all permit types issued under the Migratory Birds Regulations are posted annually on the departmental website no later than June 1, for the preceding fiscal year.

In the fall of 2015, the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) reached out to about 420 applicants (both new and return) across all permits (including MBCA) through a questionnaire that sought to calculate the amount of administrative burden encountered by applicants  in the permitting process and identify avenues for service improvement.

With a 28% response rate, the results indicate trends that identify where challenges occur, and the written comments by the participants gave suggestions for service improvement.

To improve service, CWS plans to:

• Update standard operating procedures to ensure nationwide consistency in the issuance of permits;
• Modernize permitting services by updating application forms which are available online.; 
• Prepare information sheets to assist applicants in completing and submitting applications;
• Review permit issuance data for each permit type and adjusting service standards and/or performance targets to ensure quality and predictability of permitting services provided.

All permits were delivered within timelines with the exception of three permits that were delivered outside the 120 day window (prior to September). This was due to issues with completeness of the applications (2 cases) and to the specific request of the applicant for a later date (1 case).

For further details, visit the Environment and Climate Change Canada website.

Application fees set in 1993 were rolled into CEPA 1999 in 2001. Regulatory impact assessment statements and multi-stakeholder consultations were conducted before each regulation was enacted. The last review was conducted in 2003 and its report concluded that no change to fees was required. All consultations between 1993 and 2003 involved discussion papers, public meetings and final reports. Disposal at Sea Regulations were amended in 2014 to set service standards. Consultations included regulatory impact assessment statements, pre-publication in Canada Gazette I and emailed notice to stakeholders.

For further details, visit Environment and Climate Change Canada website.

For the period up until July 2, 2015 Permittees received access to the disposal sites for dredged and excavated material authorized by their permits in 100% of cases. Representative monitoring was carried out in accordance with monitoring guidelines.

For the period from July 2, 2015 to March 31, 2016 Service Standard #1 was met in 54% of cases and Service Standard #2 was met in 94% of cases. Note that record keeping on these data, particularly for Standard #1 was incomplete as the national database was not operational and a new finance system was implemented. 

For further details, visit the Environment and Climate Change Canada website.

Multi-stakeholder consultations were carried out from 1996 to 1998 for setting the permit fee. There was general acceptance for the fee, but there was some concern for how it would be set. Permit holders indicated that they preferred a proportional volume-based fee. As well, Environment and Climate Change Canada committed to regular meetings with permit holders, reporting, and to reviewing the fee three years after implementation. The review was conducted in 2003 and its report concluded that no change to the fee was required. Further consultations were undertaken between 1993 and 2003 involving discussion papers, public meetings and final reports.

The new standard became effective on July 2, 2015 and is posted on the disposal at sea web page. For further details see the Environment and Climate Change Canada website.