Mr. Gilles Binda (Senior Advisor, Natural Resources and Environment Branch, Northern Affairs, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development) at the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee

Yes, I will answer that.

With the old YESAA, when the YESAA board would scope a project and look at the length of time their assessment would be set at, it would be set to the longest authorization that was required. Let's say the longest was a water licence for six years, then the environmental assessment was good for six years. When the project proponent had to come back for a new water licence, then they would have to go back for a new assessment of the project.

Since Bill S-6, the board has instituted a new scoping policy which takes in all the information that the proponent now provides, and the scoping and the length of the assessment is now much longer and linked to the information that is provided to the proponent, and is no longer linked to the longest authorization.