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Bill C-2

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General Requirement

Scientific and traditional knowledge

39. A designated office, the executive committee or a panel of the Board shall give full and fair consideration to scientific information, traditional knowledge and other information provided to it or obtained by it under this Act.

PART 2

ASSESSMENT PROCESS AND DECISION DOCUMENTS

Assessments - General

Non-duplicati on and certainty

40. The Board, the designated offices, the executive committee and panels of the Board shall avoid duplication in the assessment process and shall provide certainty, to the extent practicable, to persons participating in the assessment process with respect to assessment procedures, including information requirements, time limits and costs.

Timeliness of assessments

41. The designated offices, the executive committee and panels of the Board shall conduct assessments of projects, existing projects and plans in a timely and expeditious manner.

Matters to be considered

42. (1) In conducting an assessment of a project or existing project, a designated office, the executive committee or a panel of the Board shall take the following matters into consideration:

    (a) the purpose of the project or existing project;

    (b) all stages of the project or existing project;

    (c) the significance of any environmental or socio-economic effects of the project or existing project that have occurred or might occur in or outside Yukon, including the effects of malfunctions or accidents;

    (d) the significance of any adverse cumulative environmental or socio-economic effects that have occurred or might occur in connection with the project or existing project in combination with the effects of

      (i) other projects for which proposals have been submitted under subsection 50(1), or

      (ii) other existing or proposed activities in or outside Yukon that are known to the designated office, executive committee or panel of the Board from information provided to it or obtained by it under this Act;

    (e) alternatives to the project or existing project, or alternative ways of undertaking or operating it, that would avoid or minimize any significant adverse environmental or socio-economic effects;

    (f) mitigative measures and measures to compensate for any significant adverse environmental or socio-economic effects;

    (g) the need to protect the rights of Yukon Indian persons under final agreements, the special relationship between Yukon Indian persons and the wilderness environment of Yukon, and the cultures, traditions, health and lifestyles of Yukon Indian persons and other residents of Yukon;

    (h) the interests of residents of Yukon and of Canadian residents outside Yukon;

    (i) any matter that a decision body has asked it to take into consideration; and

    (j) any matter specified by the regulations.

Additional matters to be considered

(2) In addition to the matters referred to in subsection (1), the executive committee or a panel of the Board shall take the following matters into consideration:

    (a) the need for effects monitoring; and

    (b) the capacity of any renewable resources that are likely to be significantly affected by the project or existing project to meet present and future needs.

Consideration of standards

(3) Where a project or existing project to be assessed belongs to a class, or is to be located in a geographic area, for which standard mitigative measures have been developed, whether developed by the designated office or the executive committee, those measures shall be taken into consideration by the designated office, the executive committee or a panel of the Board when assessing the project or existing project.

Optional matters

(4) A designated office, the executive committee or a panel of the Board may also take into consideration any matter that it considers relevant in the assessment of a project or existing project.

Requiring additional information

43. A designated office, the executive committee or a panel of the Board may require the proponent to provide any supplementary information that it considers necessary for its assessment, whether or not it has commenced the assessment.

Regional land use plans

44. (1) If a regional land use plan is in effect in a planning region established under a final agreement, a designated office, the executive committee or a panel of the Board shall, when conducting an assessment of a project proposed in the planning region, request the planning commission established under the final agreement to advise it as to whether the project is in conformity with the regional land use plan, unless such a request has already been made in relation to the project.

Non-conformi ty with plan

(2) A designated office, the executive committee or a panel of the Board shall, if advised by the planning commission for a planning region, before or during its assessment of a project, that the project is not in conformity with the regional land use plan, consider the regional land use plan and invite the planning commission to make representations to it with respect to the project.

Recommendat ion for project

(3) Where a designated office, the executive committee or a panel of the Board recommends that a project referred to in subsection (2) be allowed to proceed, it shall, to the extent possible, recommend terms and conditions that will bring the project into conformity with the regional land use plan.

Pending land use plan

45. (1) When a planning commission established for a planning region under a final agreement notifies the executive committee and designated offices that it is preparing a regional land use plan pursuant to the final agreement, the executive committee and each designated office whose assessment district includes any part of the planning region shall provide the planning commission with the information in its possession about every project in the planning region for which an assessment is pending.

Representatio ns

(2) The executive committee shall invite a planning commission that is preparing a land use plan to make representations to it and to each panel of the Board that is conducting a review of a project, and each designated office that is conducting an evaluation of a project shall invite the planning commission to make representations to it.

Participation by interested persons

46. Subject to subsections 60(4), 95(4) and 103(4), a designated office, the executive committee or a panel of the Board shall provide and publicize opportunities for interested persons and the public to participate in any assessment conducted by it.

Proposed Activities Subject to Assessment

Regulations identifying activities

47. (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations

    (a) listing activities that may be made subject to assessment; and

    (b) making exceptions from activities so listed.

Circumstances

(2) An activity listed under paragraph (1)(a) - and not excepted under paragraph (1)(b) - is subject to assessment if proposed to be undertaken in Yukon and if

    (a) a federal agency or federal independent regulatory agency is the proponent or receives an application for financial assistance for the activity;

    (b) a territorial agency, municipal government, territorial independent regulatory agency or first nation is the proponent and an authorization or the grant of an interest in land would be required for the activity to be undertaken by a private individual;

    (c) an authorization or the grant of an interest in land by a government agency, independent regulatory agency, municipal government or first nation is required for the activity to be undertaken; or

    (d) an authorization by the Governor in Council is required for the activity to be undertaken.

Declarations

48. (1) Where an activity is listed under paragraph 47(1)(a) but is excepted under paragraph 47(1)(b), a declaration that the activity is subject to assessment may nevertheless be made, in circumstances referred to in subsection (3) or (4), by

    (a) a federal agency that is the proponent of the activity or that has the power to issue an authorization or to grant an interest in land required for the activity to be undertaken or has received an application for financial assistance for the activity;

    (b) the federal minister, if the Governor in Council has the power to issue an authorization required for the activity to be undertaken or if a federal independent regulatory agency is the proponent of the activity, has the power to issue an authorization or to grant an interest in land required for the activity to be undertaken or has received an application for financial assistance for the activity;

    (c) the territorial minister, if a territorial agency, a municipal government or a territorial independent regulatory agency is the proponent of the activity or has the power to issue an authorization or to grant an interest in land required for the activity to be undertaken; or

    (d) a first nation that is the proponent of the activity or that has the power to issue an authorization or to grant an interest in land required for the activity to be undertaken.

Consent to declaration

(2) A declaration that a particular activity is subject to assessment must be consented to by every person or body referred to in subsection (1) that has the power to make that declaration.

Significant adverse effects

(3) A declaration that an activity is subject to assessment may be made by the federal agency, federal minister, territorial minister or first nation if they are of the opinion that the activity might

    (a) have significant adverse environmental or socio-economic effects in or outside Yukon; or

    (b) contribute significantly to cumulative adverse environmental or socio-economic effects in combination with projects for which proposals have been submitted under subsection 50(1) or with other activities known to them that are proposed, undertaken or completed in or outside Yukon.

Activity in protected area

(4) A declaration that an activity is subject to assessment may also be made in respect of an activity if the activity is to be undertaken

    (a) in an area that contains a heritage resource, other than a record only, or that is a heritage resource, and that is for that reason protected by federal, territorial or first nation law or that is identified, in a land use plan in effect under a final agreement, as an area that should be so protected;

    (b) in a special management area that is identified as such in a final agreement or that is established in accordance with a final agreement; or

    (c) in an area that forms the habitat for any species of plant or wildlife that is determined to be rare, threatened, endangered or at risk by or under federal, territorial or first nation law.

Emergencies exempted

49. (1) Notwithstanding sections 47 and 48, no assessment is required of an activity that is undertaken in response to a national emergency for which special temporary measures are being taken under the Emergencies Act, or in response to an emergency when it is in the interest of public welfare, health or safety or of protecting property or the environment that the activity be undertaken immediately.

Reporting after emergencies

(2) As soon as practicable after any such activity is completed, the person who undertook it shall send a written report to the designated office for each assessment district in which it was undertaken describing the nature, extent and duration of the activity and any work required in order to restore or rehabilitate the area affected by it.

Proposals for Projects

Submission of proposals

50. (1) A proponent shall submit a proposal for a project

    (a) to the executive committee, in the case of a project specified in regulations made under paragraph 122(c); or

    (b) in any other case, to the designated office for the assessment district in which the project is to be undertaken, subject to the rules made under paragraph 31(2)(d).

Consideration s by proponent

(2) The proponent of a project shall, in preparing a proposal,

    (a) take into consideration the matters referred to in paragraphs 42(1)(b), (c), (e) and (f), in the case of a proposal submitted to a designated office, or the matters referred to in paragraphs 42(1)(b), (c) and (e) to (h), in the case of a proposal submitted to the executive committee; and

    (b) incorporate any mitigative measures that may be appropriate.

Consultation

(3) Before submitting a proposal to the executive committee, the proponent of a project shall consult any first nation in whose territory, or the residents of any community in which, the project will be located or might have significant environmental or socio-economic effects.

Notification of Environment Minister

(4) The executive committee shall notify the Minister of the Environment of any proposal submitted to it under paragraph (1)(a) for a project for which there is a federal decision body.

Determination of scope

51. A designated office or the executive committee shall determine the scope of a project to be assessed by it, and shall include within the scope of the project, in addition to any activity identified in the proposal, any activity that it considers likely to be undertaken in relation to the project and sufficiently related to the project to be included in the assessment.

Grouping of related projects

52. A designated office or the executive committee shall assess as a single project two or more projects for which it has received proposals where it considers that the projects are so closely related as to be part of the same activity or where all the decision bodies for each of the projects have advised it that they consider the projects to be so related.

Evaluations by multiple designated offices

53. An evaluation may be conducted, in the manner provided by the rules made under paragraph 31(2)(e), by two or more designated offices jointly or by one of them on behalf of the other or others, where

    (a) a single project is located in two or more assessment districts; or

    (b) a designated office considers projects located in two or more assessment districts to be closely related.

Withdrawal of project

54. (1) A proponent that intends not to proceed with a project shall give notice to that effect to any body that has conducted or is conducting an assessment of the project and to any decision body that is considering recommendations relating to the project.

Discontinuanc e

(2) Any assessment of a project conducted by a body that is notified under subsection (1), and any consideration of a recommendation made in respect of the project by a decision body notified under that subsection, shall be discontinued.

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