History of federal contaminated sites

Activities over the last century have left an environmental legacy that includes toxic waste sites, abandoned mines, contaminated military installations, leaking fuel storage depots, and other hazards to human health and the environment.

In 1989, recognizing the need to take action, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) and the Government of Canada negotiated a joint five-year National Contaminated Sites Remediation Program (NCSRP) with all the provinces and territories. This program helped remediate orphaned high-risk contaminated sites (sites for which a responsible party could not be found, or where the property owner was unable or unwilling to finance remediation) while promoting Canada's environmental technology industry.

A total of 45 contaminated sites across Canada were addressed under the NCSRP. In addition, 55 site developments and demonstrations of remediation technology projects were undertaken. Under this program, a method to classify contaminated sites according to their current or potential adverse impacts on human health and the environment was also developed.

In 1990, to address contaminated sites on federal Crown land, Environment and Climate Change Canada committed to assist custodians (the federal departments, agencies and consolidated Crown corporations responsible for contaminated sites) with identifying, assessing, and remediating high-risk contaminated sites within their jurisdictions. As a result, 325 federal sites were investigated and remediation was initiated at 14 sites requiring immediate attention.

The creation of the Contaminated Sites Management Working Group (CSMWG) in 1995 was a major step forward to address federal contaminated sites. This group was made up of representatives from federal departments, agencies and consolidated Crown corporations. It was instrumental in developing an interdepartmental strategy to deal with contaminated sites.

Despite these efforts, both the Auditor General and the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development remained critical of federal contaminated sites management. The primary concern was the absence of an adequate legislative framework and a clearly defined action plan to address federal sites.

The 2002 Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development concluded that the federal government had failed to address federal contaminated sites adequately. Criticisms included a lack of information on the number of federal contaminated sites in Canada; the failure to produce an action plan to deal with high-risk sites in a timely manner; and the need for stable, long-term funding to manage the problem.

Recognizing the need for a coordinated approach to address these concerns, the government established the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan (FCSAP) in 2005. It received policy approval for an initial 15 years (2005 to 2020) and was then renewed for another 15 years (2020 to 2035).

The Northern Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program (NAMRP) was launched in 2020 under Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) to address eight large, abandoned mines in Canada’s North. Those mines had previously been funded through FCSAP. It received $2.2 billion over 15 years through Budget 2019 and an additional $6.9 billion through Budget 2023.

Timeline

• 2005: The government launches FCSAP, a 15-year program to address federal contaminated sites posing a risk to human health and the environment, with $1.60 billion for Phase I (2005 to 2011).
• 2011: Budget 2011 commits $148.9 million in new funding for program management and assessment activities for a total of $1.38 billion over five years for FCSAP Phase II (2011 to 2016).
• 2015: Budget 2015 commits $99.6 million in new funding over four years for program management and assessment activities for a total of $1.35 billion over four years FCSAP Phase III (2016 to 2020).
• 2019: The government renews FCSAP for another 15 years (2020 to 2035). Budget 2019 commits $1.16 billion over five years for FCSAP Phase IV (2020 to 2025).
• 2019: FCSAP receives approval to expand funding eligibility to new medium (Class 2) sites and lower (Class 3) risk sites and sites where contamination occurred after 1998 if located on reserve lands or in the north.
• 2019: Budget 2019 allocates $2.2 billion over 15 years starting in 2020 to 2021 to create the Northern Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program (NAMRP). Up to this time, these eight mines had been part of FCSAP.
• 2024: Budget 2024 commits $1.48 billion over five years for FCSAP Phase V (2025 to 2030).