Commitment Statement - British Columbia - Canada Coordination on Permitting for Critical Mineral Projects

Background

British Columbia and Canada are working to ensure our impact assessment and permitting programs and initiatives are predictable, efficient, and achieving our shared objectives of maintaining strong environmental, social and governance policies and advancing reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, while eliminating duplication and improving decision timelines.

The development of critical minerals positions British Columbia and Canada for trade diversification, new markets and expansion considering increasing global economic uncertainty, challenges in access to investment capital, and supply chain cost inflation. Investing in these minerals today provides building blocks for a green and low-carbon economy, a sustainable industrial base, supporting stable and diversified supply chains and advancing the global transition to a net-zero future.

British Columbia and Canada have both released Critical Mineral Strategies, outlining priorities that support intergovernmental collaboration related to critical minerals development in the province and both governments have directed their officials to accelerate regulatory efficiency. Many critical minerals projects require federal and provincial environmental/impact assessments, as well as multiple permits and authorizations from both jurisdictions. To achieve the goals in the Critical Minerals Strategies, British Columbia and Canada are committed to timely, predictable and clear decision-making for their respective regulatory processes.

Building on a long history of cooperation between British Columbia and Canada, this commitment represents an extension to the Impact Assessment Cooperation Agreement Between Canada and British Columbia (2019) (the Cooperation Agreement). British Columbia and Canada are committed to continuing process refinements that ensure the effective conduct of substituted and coordinated Federal and Provincial environmental/impact assessments.

As we move forward together, British Columbia and Canada respect each other’s constitutional responsibilities, including British Columbia’s jurisdiction for the management of its non-renewable natural resources, and the shared responsibilities for the environment and obligations to consult with, and where appropriate, accommodate Indigenous Peoples when the Crown contemplates actions that could adversely impact their rights under the Constitution.

This commitment represents an extension to the Cooperation Agreement.

Objective

British Columbia and Canada seek to accelerate decision-making around critical minerals projects through aligning their respective regulatory processes and requirements to the extent possible. Substantial work has been implemented to align federal and provincial environmental / impact assessments. This Commitment Statement represents further alignment efforts related to permitting and authorizations, that aim to result in increased coordination and integration, eliminating duplication, and achieving shorter overall timelines for decisions across the full range of regulatory requirements for critical minerals projects.

Commitments

For critical minerals projects subject to a provincial and/or federal assessment and that require multiple provincial and federal permits and authorizations, British Columbia’s Environmental Assessment Office and Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals, and Canada’s Impact Assessment Agency of Canada and Natural Resources Canada will work with key provincial and federal authorities to undertake the following activities:

• Jointly identify priority critical mineral proposed projects for British Columbia and Canada and establish joint measures that will support streamlined regulatory process, early issues resolution, and effective engagement with Indigenous Peoples. Measures may include prioritizing technical resources, aligning capacity funding with priority projects, and joint regulatory efficiency tables for identified priority projects.
• Align and prioritize resources for regional strategies and negotiations that mitigate risks for multiple critical minerals projects, with an early focus on northwest British Columbia.
• With respect to impact assessment, continue to advance initiatives to streamline processes under the Cooperation Agreement, including: relying on British Columbia’s regulatory processes, to the extent possible, to address potential adverse federal effects when making its decision on whether a full federal impact assessment is needed; and when assessments are required, refining roles and responsibilities during substituted processes, sharing of potential conditions, and aligning prioritization of projects. Explore enhanced capacity support for substituted impact assessments carried out by British Columbia.
• Consistent with practice under the Cooperation Agreement, improve alignment and coordination of Crown-Indigenous consultation with relevant Indigenous groups on applicable regulatory instruments undergoing environmental and impact assessments. Specifically align the scope of consultation and associated capacity funding in relation to priority projects.
• Identify as early as possible, and in a predictable manner, in an assessment process whether any provincial or federal authorizations, permits or licences are needed.
• Facilitate the alignment and integration of permitting processes and requirements into the environmental or impact assessment process, to the extent possible, and improve coordination and integration of federal and provincial permitting processes. Specifically, commit to review areas where there may be regulatory overlaps with a view to increasing reliance on provincial authorization processes.
• Enhance existing joint tools and processes to expedite authorizations and permitting for priority projects, and implement any specific measures brought forward by British Columbia. These specific measures could include but are not limited to: supporting provincial capacity to lead the project management and permitting processes, prioritizing technical resources for application review, enhancing use of Regulatory Coordination Plans, conducting Indigenous consultation, and aligning permitting decisions with provincial timelines.
• Align funding awarded by the Governments of Canada and British Columbia in support of critical minerals to the extent possible to shared priorities, including under Canada’s Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund.
• When there is a provincial environmental assessment process, rely on the associated provincial reports and documents to meet subsequent provincial and federal regulatory and permitting processes and requirements, to the extent possible.

Adopted

Alex MacLennan
Associate Deputy Minister and Chief Executive Assessment Officer
BC Environmental Assessment Office

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Date (Signed on March 20, 2025)

Nathaniel Amann-Blake
Deputy Minister
BC Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals

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Date (Signed on March 20, 2025)

Terence Hubbard
President
Impact Assessment Agency of Canada

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Date (Signed on March 18, 2025)

Michael Vandergrift
Deputy Minister
Natural Resources Canada

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Date (Signed on March 10, 2025)