On June 21, 2019, Bill C-69, which includes the Impact
Assessment Act ("IAA"), new federal
legislation governing environmental assessments at the federal
level, received Royal Assent. The IAA is not yet in force.
In February 2018, we wrote an overview of the IAA and the way that it
differed from the current environmental assessment process in place
under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012
("CEAA 2012"). Since that time, the IAA
was considered by the Standing Committee on Environment and
Sustainable Development and debated in the Senate. As a result,
some amendments were made to the text of the proposed bill,
including amendments clarifying the autonomy of the Impact
Assessment Agency (the "Agency"), and
amendments removing some of the discretion provided to the Minister
under the original text and moving that discretion to the Agency
(for example, the discretion to suspend the time limits provided
for an impact assessment under the IAA). However, the
