Province hosts month long consultation on proposed changes to Environmental Assessment Process

The British Columbia government has embarked on a review of how the province conducts its environmental assessment process and for much of July the conversation has been turned over to the residents of the province, with a consultation period now underway through until the end of July.

The public input period this month, is part of a consultation that is designed to ensure that the legal rights of First Nations are respected and that the expectations of the public for transparency is delivered.

Over the last number of months, the review process has already heard from First Nations,  industry and stakeholders on what they believe any new new environmental process for the province should look like.

Through those discussions the province has generated a discussion paper on the topic and it forms the bulk of the information available to the public for their review prior to participation in an online survey to hear of the public concerns or thoughts on the topic.

The government's focus for the revitalization of the Environmental Assessment process has three main themes:

Enhancing public confidence, transparency and meaningful participation

Advancing reconciliation with First Nations

Protecting the environment while supporting clear pathways to sustainable project approvals.

From the Discussion Paper, the proposed new process which involves nine steps is explained, the nine elements of the revitalization include:

Building Blocks
Early Engagement
Readiness Gate
Process Planning
Application Development and Review
Effects Assessment
Recommendation
Decision
Post Certificate

Key to the process moving forward is the involvement of the province's Indigenous nations which have prominence in each step.

Local governments are also noted in the discussion paper as having a special role in the Environmental Assessment, where their contributions will be received in the Early Engagement and Application Development portions of the nine elements.

When it comes to the Final Decision as to whether a project should receive an Environmental Assessment certificate, Provincial Ministers will make a decision based on the consideration of the recommendations from the Environmental Assessment Office, the decisions of Indigenous Nations and according to a defined decision criteria.

Should there be a project where Indigenous consent is not secured, an alternative dispute resolution process would be used, with the recommendation of a Reconciliation Commission" to provide for constructive direction and support within the EA Process.

You can review the Discussion Paper here

The survey, which hosts between 20 to 40 questions takes about twenty minutes to complete, is available here.

Following the end of the consultation period on July 30th ,the timeline for the revitalization of the Environmental Assessment process will see all of the information compiled through the summer with the delivery of an intention paper.

New legislation is expected to be introduced to the legislature this fall from the findings.

You can review more about the consultation here.

For more items of note from the British Columbia legislature see our archive page here, a wider overview of political issues from Victoria can be reviewed from our political blog D'Arcy McGee.


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