Evidence of meeting #13 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was witnesses.
A video is available from Parliament.
5 p.m.
Chief Enforcement Officer, Enforcement Branch, Department of the Environment
We have been asked to attend. We were named to attend this meeting today.
5 p.m.
Liberal
February 22nd, 2021 / 5 p.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses.
Clearly, we're not here to relitigate something that has been through the Prosecution Service and the courts, but we're looking at the processes involved in the enforcement of CEPA and the role your department plays and also the role that our committee can play.
Madam Pelletier, you mentioned in your presentation the role the environment committee played in 2017, bringing forth some recommendations. Are there any of the key recommendations that came from this committee that you could comment on that have improved the operation of your organization?
5 p.m.
Chief Enforcement Officer, Enforcement Branch, Department of the Environment
Yes, we can. Michael Enns, who already spoke, can speak very heavily on this because he is leading some of the key results on the risk assessment part, which is transforming and modernizing the enforcement branch.
Michael, if you would like to take the lead.
5 p.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
Thirty to 40 seconds would be great. I have a few more questions.
Thank you, Mr. Enns.
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Director General, Risk Analysis Directorate, Department of the Environment
We're aware of all the recommendations that were made by this committee, and then there was the report that responded to those recommendations, noting in particular that many of them would involve a fairly fundamental change to how we enforce and work under CEPA.
Those recommendations are being considered under a broader review of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act that was launched just recently and is being considered as part of a comprehensive set of recommendations that were made at that time.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
5:05 p.m.
Director General, Risk Analysis Directorate, Department of the Environment
That's okay.
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Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
I'm thinking of the interaction between your office and the office of the commissioner of sustainability and climate change as an example.
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Director General, Risk Analysis Directorate, Department of the Environment
There were a number of recommendations made by the CESD on how we do priority setting and where we choose to focus our enforcement efforts.
In response to that, we implemented, and have been implementing over the last two years, a risk-based approach, which includes a comprehensive analysis of all the laws and regulations we're responsible to enforce, including those under CEPA, to look at the harm that is done incrementally by offences when they occur. We do life-cycle analysis of toxic substances, for example, to determine how much damage is done to the environment by a particular pollutant, and then we combine that with in-depth analysis of the likelihood of those offences occurring.
Those two pieces go together to form a risk-based approach.
From a likelihood perspective, we look at prior criminal history, at operations of an organization—financial profit and those kinds of things—to create models that, together with the harm, target those offences that are the most likely and most severe from an environmental standpoint. So that—
5:05 p.m.
Director General, Risk Analysis Directorate, Department of the Environment
We started that process two years ago, so we're well advanced with it. We've done our analysis and have implemented inspections on the basis of that analysis, which will allow us to field test what is really going on and continually modify those models that we've built, so that we're always targeting the worst forms of environmental non-compliance.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
Perfect.
As an outside-of-government approach, or reporting to Parliament outside of the minister's office, the office of the attorney general, through the commissioner's office, gives third party oversight. Would that be a fair statement?
5:05 p.m.
Director General, Risk Analysis Directorate, Department of the Environment
I would think so, yes.
The commissioner of the environment and sustainable development has audited us, and will again in the future, I'm sure, and that provides strong oversight that we respond to directly.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
In those audits that result in action items, timelines, review and re-review....
I sit on the public accounts committee, so I pick up the audits on the other side of these discussions.
It's a non-partisan committee. Well, it's partisan because we're all members of political parties, but we try to ask our questions on behalf of efficiency of government.
5:05 p.m.
Director General, Risk Analysis Directorate, Department of the Environment
Right. The two most recent audits were on CEPA enforcement itself, as well as some of the enforcement that we do under the Fisheries Act with respect to mining in particular. The recommendations from those audits were remarkably similar, that we needed to put in place a strong, risk-based prioritization process, as well as a policy on reinspection, to make sure that when we do undertake enforcement actions, we go back to verify compliance.
Both of those things have been done and implemented. We reserve a certain percentage of our inspections every year for the purpose of reinspection to verify compliance, which is in direct response to audit recommendations in both audits. The risk-based directorate that I run is probably the flagship response to both audits, and it provides the comprehensive, detailed risk assessment process that those audits recommended directly to us.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
The other interaction is with provincial and municipal governments. How does that take place?
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Director General, Risk Analysis Directorate, Department of the Environment
I can speak to that, and perhaps turn it to my colleague, Donald, if he has anything to add.
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Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
You may have to pick that up later. I'm running out of time quickly.
5:05 p.m.
Director General, Risk Analysis Directorate, Department of the Environment
I'll just talk until someone tells me to stop.
We have extensive interactions with provincial and territorial enforcement organizations at the officer level, and that is really well functioning. At the higher levels, the chief enforcement office, for instance, we held a working group session of all her counterparts over the last year to talk about joint planning, resource efficiency, etc.
