2022-2023 Departmental Plan: Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

Raison d’être

The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (the Agency), formerly the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, delivers high-quality environmental and impact assessments that contribute to informed decision-making on major projects in support of sustainable development. Impact and environmental assessments are planning and decision-making tools: they assist with project design, facilitate Indigenous, public, and stakeholder participation, and ensure that appropriate measures are identified and implemented to mitigate the adverse effects of designated projects.

Mandate and role

The Impact Assessment Act (IAA) came into force on August 28, 2019, expanding the Agency’s mandate and responsibilities as the lead federal organization responsible for conducting and administering assessments. Under the IAA, the Agency is responsible for assessing the positive and negative environmental, economic, social and health effects of designated projects. It is also the Crown coordinator for Indigenous consultation of designated projects under the IAA.

The IAA replaced the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 (CEAA 2012). It includes transitional provisions for assessments that began under previous legislation. The Agency is responsible for ensuring that these transitional environmental assessments complete as soon as practicable in accordance with CEAA 2012. Environmental assessments (EAs) under CEAA 2012 consider whether designated projects are likely to cause significant adverse effects that fall within the legislative authority of Parliament.

Impact assessments (IAs) under the IAA consider whether the adverse effects that fall within the legislative authority of Parliament, likely caused by designated projects, are in the public interest. Decision-making under the IAA must take into account several factors, including but not limited to: whether the project contributes to or hinders the Government of Canada’s commitments related to climate change; impacts on the Indigenous peoples of Canada; and the extent to which the adverse effects of a project are significant.

The Agency coordinates Crown consultation activities throughout the impact assessment process, leading Government of Canada consultations with Indigenous peoples to meet statutory requirements of the IAA and the Crown’s common law duty to consult and accommodate. In doing so, the IAA mandates that the Agency support the Government’s commitments to the rights of the Indigenous peoples of Canada, which includes commitments to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the UN Declaration Act.

Under the IAA, potential impacts on Indigenous peoples and their rights must be considered in an impact assessment of a designated project. It also requires consideration of potential impacts on the rights of Indigenous peoples at key decision points in the impact assessment process, including for decisions about whether an impact assessment is required, whether referral to a review panel is warranted, and whether the effects of the project in federal jurisdiction are in the public interest. The IAA also requires the Agency to consider any Indigenous knowledge provided and explain how it was taken into account.

Both EAs and IAs inform government decision-making and support sustainable development. They do so by identifying opportunities to eliminate, reduce, or manage a project’s potential adverse effects before the project is undertaken.

The Minister of Environment and Climate Change can refer the impact assessment of a designated project to an independent review panel if the Minister determines that it is in the public interest to do so. If the designated project includes physical activities regulated under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act or the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, the Minister is required to refer an impact assessment to a review panel. The Agency supports the work of independent review panels by providing technical, procedural and administrative support through a secretariat.

When a project is subject to an assessment by more than one order of government, the Agency coordinates with provinces and territories to identify the most efficient and effective means of supporting the objective of “one project, one assessment.” The Minister may approve the substitution of a federal assessment with the process of another jurisdiction, on request of the jurisdiction, if the Minister believes that it would be an appropriate substitute.

The Agency engages with international partners to promote the principles of the IAA and works closely with Global Affairs Canada and other federal departments on activities related to impact assessment in multilateral agreements. The Agency also has a direct role related to Canada’s responsibilities in impact assessment in a transboundary context and supports its President, Canada’s Point of Contact under the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context.

Regional and strategic assessments are two additional types of assessments made available through the IAA. Regional assessments assess the effects of current and anticipated physical activities in a specific region. Strategic assessments assess federal policies, plans, programs or issues relevant to conducting impact assessments. Under the IAA, these assessments support the Government of Canada’s strategy for addressing cumulative effects. They build from the previous CEAA 2012, which allowed the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to appoint a committee to conduct a regional study.

Regional assessments enable the Government of Canada to go beyond the scale of project-specific impact assessments to understand a regional context and identify development pressures and their effects in areas of existing projects or anticipated development. The effects considered in these types of assessments can include environmental, health, social, and economic effects, including cumulative effects.

Strategic assessments evaluate existing or proposed federal policies, plans or programs that may cause or contribute to issues arising in the impact assessment of projects, as well as broader policy issues relevant to conducting impact assessment.

The IAA recognizes the importance of meaningful public participation and requires that opportunities for public participation be provided throughout the assessment process, in accordance with legislation, regulations, policies and guidance established by the Agency. The Agency is engaging on specific issues and assessments, and implements the National Engagement and Outreach Strategy. The purpose of the program is to listen to and learn from Canadians and Indigenous peoples to adjust and improve the Agency’s processes, policies and programs.

The Agency has also been responsible for leading federal project review activities under the environmental and social protection regimes set out in sections 22 and 23 of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement and the Northeastern Quebec Agreement. These agreements are constitutionally-protected comprehensive land claim agreements. The Agency supports its President, who, as the Federal Administrator, must review and determine whether projects of a federal nature proposed under the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement or Northeastern Quebec Agreement should proceed and, if so, under which conditions.

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