Impact Assessment Agency of Canada’s 2025–26 Departmental plan: At a glance
A departmental plan describes a department’s priorities, plans, and associated costs for the upcoming three fiscal years.
In August 2019, the Impact Assessment Act (IAA) came into force giving the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) the mandate to lead federal environmental and impact assessments. In response to the October 2023 Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) Decision on the constitutionality of the IAA, the Act was amended and received Royal Assent in June 2024.
Key priorities
IAAC’s top priorities for 2025-26 are as follows:
- Deliver an efficient and credible impact assessment regime that advances the commitments of the government and Minister to get projects built quickly, make decisions on major projects within two years, and move forward with “one project, one assessment.”
- Maximize Indigenous collaboration and partnership in impact assessments by developing and maintaining meaningful partnerships and collaborative processes, providing capacity support to Indigenous Peoples, removing duplication between federal and provincial processes, and leveraging existing consultations for multiple purposes. This also means advancing Indigenous participation in major projects to ensure First Nations, Inuit, and Métis rights-holders are part of Canada’s accelerated push to build.
- Improve the management of the potential effects of an individual project by developing a broader understanding of cumulative effects through the conduct of regional assessments, along with strategic assessments of federal policies, plans, programs, or issues related to impact assessment.
- Strengthen internal services to support the delivery of IAAC’s priorities, programs, and initiatives.
Highlights
In 2025-26, total planned spending (including internal services) for IAAC is $115,435,790 and total planned full-time equivalent staff (including internal services) is 600. For complete information on IAAC’s total planned spending and human resources, read the Planned spending and human resources section of the full plan.
The following provides a summary of the department’s planned achievements for 2025-26 according to its approved Departmental Results Framework. A Departmental Results Framework consists of a department’s core responsibilities, the results it plans to achieve, and the performance indicators that measure progress toward these results.
Core responsibility 1: Impact Assessment
Planned spending: $92,348,632
Planned human resources: 450
Departmental results:
- Designated projects that proceed foster sustainability;
- Stakeholders and Indigenous groups meaningfully participate in the assessment process;
- Scientific and evidence-based information, and Indigenous Knowledge on key health, social, economic, and environmental effects are available to inform project assessment processes, including impact assessment reports, decisions, and conditions; and
- Impact assessment processes respect the rights and culture of Indigenous Peoples and Canada’s commitment to partner with them.
The IAA is part of a larger regulatory landscape in Canada that includes shared responsibilities with provinces and territories. It is designed to ensure the most complex projects in Canada, the ones with the most potential for serious adverse effects in federal jurisdiction, are assessed and designed in a way that protects the environment and Indigenous rights.
It is IAAC’s role to facilitate the sustainable development of these projects through an organized process and forum to coordinate Crown consultation and meet the Duty to Consult, meet the federal government’s responsibility to mitigate adverse federal effects, inform and coordinate federal permits, and gain social license to facilitate project development. IAAC works closely with other jurisdictions to achieve the goal of “one project, one assessment.” To facilitate transparency of processes, IAAC maintains the Canadian Impact Assessment Registry (the Registry), where relevant information related to assessments is published.
IAAC is the lead on Indigenous engagement during impact assessments of designated projects, serving as a single point of contact for Crown consultation and engagement with Indigenous Peoples. In addition, IAAC works with Indigenous Peoples while providing capacity support funding to facilitate meaningful participation in assessment processes, including empowering Indigenous Peoples to lead assessments. This includes seeking the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples for decisions that impact Indigenous rights and interests, as well as recognizing Indigenous rights, self-determination, and self-governance. These efforts help ensure that assessment processes respect Indigenous rights and culture.
More information about impact assessment can be found in the full plan.