Federal Environmental Assessment – What's Next? – Expert Panel Releases Report

On April 5, 2017, an Expert Panel established by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change (the "Panel") released its report, Building Common Ground – A New Vision for Impact Assessment in Canada, The Final Report of the Expert Panel for the Review of Environmental Assessment Processes (the "Report"). Our Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 ("CEAA 2012").  The recommendations, if adopted, would represent significant changes from the current approach to federal EA processes. Some key themes covered in the Report are:

• a shift in focus from EA (with an emphasis on the bio-physical environment) to a sustainability-based Impact Assessment ("IA") process based on five pillars of sustainability: environmental, health, social, cultural and economic considerations;