Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I was just going to say, the act itself has a whole list of factors that the board must take into consideration in making its decisions when it does environmental assessments. They look at the cumulative effects of a project. They look at the environmental changes. They'll look a

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Correct.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm not sure...a yes or no on what, sorry?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  For a project, as Mr. Van Dine pointed out, you start off early from prospecting and everything.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If you have an environmental assessment done, the board or at different levels.... There are three different levels in Yukon—a designated office, the executive committee, and a formal review, which has not been conducted yet in Yukon—so you have two levels that have been used. T

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No. It goes to whoever is responsible for making decisions for that type of project. There are, like I've said, consultations all the way up leading to the environmental assessment, where first nations and everybody is consulted and Yukoners in general.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. As you said, section 49.1 of the act mentions that the body responsible for a project may be exempt from requesting a new assessment, unless there are significant changes to the project. “Significant” is a word that no lawyer in Ottawa and no drafter

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The decision-makers are the government or regulatory bodies, like the Yukon Water Board. They are the ones who determine whether significant changes have been made to a project.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's exactly one point that was raised when I was working with them and we put in that amendment. One thing that was raised is that it's fine to look at the project, but then they turned around and asked, “What about the environment?” We live in the north. Climate change is aff

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I can't remember. Most people wanted this change. The Chamber of Mines, which represents all these companies, voiced, through personal communication with me as the lead on the bill and through correspondence now, that they are on side with all these amendments. They are fine with

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's correct.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Actually, no. The board has set up their time limits through their rules. For the information of the members, they go out and actually consult on those before setting those rules. They meet with first nations and with Yukoners so that they set up those rules based on a consultati

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

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Not anymore. The assessment is for a longer period than that for which an authorization is required now, because of the new policy that the board has instituted, their new scoping policy, which is more in line with every other jurisdiction in Canada.