Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
I am the director general of the industrial sectors and chemicals directorate at Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee to discuss the Fisheries Act and Environment and Climate Change Canada’s role in its implementation.
I would like to acknowledge that I'm speaking to you today from the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe nation. I am often reminded of the work we do related to fisheries and water protection that helps to make us all better stewards of the land, an important value held by indigenous people.
Let me start by describing the role that Environment and Climate Change Canada plays in the Fisheries Act.
Environment and Climate Change Canada is responsible for the pollution prevention provisions of the act. This is one of the most important pieces of legislation to protect Canada's fisheries resources and waters from pollution.
The department leads the administration and enforcement of these provisions, except for their application to aquaculture and the control and eradication of aquatic invasive species and aquatic pests. Those areas fall under the responsibility of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
ECCC administers these provisions in two ways.
The first is by administering and enforcing an important provision on water pollution. It prohibits the release of substances that are deleterious to fish in the water. It is a broad requirement that applies to all Canadian fisheries waters. There are only a limited number of ways to allow for the release of pollution under the act.
This leads to the second way in which the pollution prevention provisions are administered, which is by developing and enforcing regulations that allow the release of deleterious substances to water frequented by fish. Current regulations under the Fisheries Act authorize the release of deleterious substances for industrial or municipal activities under strict conditions. These regulations provide environmental protection while allowing socially or economically important activities to take place.
Since regulations authorize the release of pollution, they establish systematic oversight and scrutiny of pollution releases to monitor the effluent quality and understand the impact of the authorized release. To date, seven such regulations have been developed, including regulations for the metal- and diamond-mining sectors, the pulp and paper sector and municipal waste water.
ECCC is responsible for several activities related to the implementation of the prohibitions and regulations. These include verifying compliance with the requirements, providing effective enforcement to ensure those who violate the law are held accountable and conducting compliance promotion to inform stakeholders of their obligations, as well as providing science-based advice to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from environmental emergencies.
Now I would like to quickly review with you what the 2019 amendments meant for our department.
The 2019 amendments to the act did not significantly alter the requirements of the pollution prevention provisions. This means that the prohibition on the release of pollution and the regulations making authorities were largely unchanged. Nonetheless, some of the changes made elsewhere in the act have influenced the department’s implementation of the act.
The 2019 amendments provide that the minister must consider any adverse effects that a decision may have on the rights of indigenous peoples in Canada. For example, in 2021, the Crown‑indigenous working group on oil sands tailing ponds water was established to serve as a mechanism for collaboration on the development of the potential oil sands mining effluent regulations.
Environment and Climate Change Canada is committed to protecting Canada’s environment in ways that benefit future generations while supporting today’s growing economy.
I look forward to hearing your views and recommendations as you undertake this review of the act.
Thank you very much.