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ARTICLE · 17 SEPTEMBER 2024

Have Your Say On The IAA Project List: Discussion Paper Feedback Due By September 27, 2024

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As we reported earlier this year, on June 20, 2024, amendments to the Impact Assessment Act ("IAA") came into effect

CanadaEnvironment
Liane Langstaff
Liane Langstaff
Mark Youden
Mark Youden
Kirsten McCann
Kirsten McCann
Larissa Parker
Larissa Parker
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As we reported earlier this year, on June 20, 2024, amendments to the Impact Assessment Act ("IAA") came into effect.1 The federal government introduced these amendments following the Supreme Court of Canada's landmark opinion on October 13, 2023, which deemed core components of the IAAunconstitutional.2

See our prior articles on the Supreme Court's decision and key amendments for details.

Key amendments and their implications

The recent IAA amendments have profound implications for the assessment and approval of major energy, infrastructure and mining projects going forward.

Notably, these changes clarify that an impact assessment is only required when a project may cause adverse effects within federal jurisdiction (i.e. "non-negligible adverse changes" that are within the legislative authority of the federal government). Moreover, these effects no longer include greenhouse gas emissions ("GHGs").

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