Thank you, Mr. Chair and honourable members.
My name is Patricia Brady. I'm the vice-president of strategic policy and programs at the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada. I'm joined here by two colleagues, Bram Sepers, executive director of communications at the agency; and Elisabeth Gill, director of our Quebec regional office, who is onscreen.
I'd like to begin by acknowledging that we're on the unceded territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin nation.
We are pleased to appear before the committee today to provide information on the environmental assessment of the port terminal expansion project at Contrecoeur.
We will also discuss the provisions of the Impact Assessment Act, or IAA, related to projects on federal lands that apply separately to the compensation project.
The IAA sets out impact assessment requirements for major projects. Those projects are listed in regulations under the IAA called the “Project List”. That list includes only major projects. Since 2019, only about nine projects per year have met the thresholds in the list to be subject to the federal assessment process.
The port terminal expansion project at Contrecœur is a major project and was assessed under the Impact Assessment Act's predecessor legislation, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012. This assessment, which included indigenous consultation and public participation, concluded in February 2021, with the Minister of the Environment’s report and decision issued on March 1, 2021, which included conditions to mitigate adverse effects, including a habitat compensation plan related to the copper redhorse.
The implementation of that compensation plan was separately subject to provisions of the Impact Assessment Act that apply to projects that aren't designated on a project list and that are carried out on federal lands such as national parks, military bases and first nations reserves. Those requirements are separate and very different from the requirements for major designated projects under the act.
To give you a sense of volume, more than 1,000 non-designated projects are subject to these federal lands requirements each year, and they include a broad range of project types of varying sizes, such as constructing office buildings and hospitals, installing wharves and breakwaters, replacing culverts and installing water treatment systems. For those types of projects on federal lands, relevant federal authorities are responsible for determining the potential environmental effects of the project. The Impact Assessment Agency has no role in those determinations under the act.
There are more than 75 federal authorities in total, including departments, agencies, Crown corporations, ports and airport authorities, among others.
Under the act, before undertaking a project on federal lands or authorizing or funding one, the federal authority must first determine whether a project could cause significant adverse environmental effects. This includes a requirement for public transparency. At a minimum, a notice called a “notice of intent” must be posted on the Impact Assessment Registry, inviting the public to provide comments. Federal authorities have broad discretion to decide how they'll make their determination, including the information they need or additional public engagement activities, given the specific project circumstances.
IAAC's role in federal lands assessments is limited. Its two main functions are as follows. The first is to provide guidance to federal authorities about their obligations under the IAA in respect of these federal land provisions. The second is to host information on the authorities' federal lands assessments on the Canadian Impact Assessment Registry, which IAAC maintains, though each federal authority has its own account and makes postings to the registry directly.
Thanks again for the opportunity to be here, and my colleagues and I would be happy to answer questions.