Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (S.C. 1999, c. 33)

Marginal note:Burden of proof

29 The offence alleged in an environmental protection action and the resulting significant harm are to be proved on a balance of probabilities.

Marginal note:Defences

• 30 (1) The following defences are available in an environmental protection action:

  • (a) the defence of due diligence in complying with this Act and the regulations;

  • (b) the defence that the alleged conduct is authorized by or under an Act of Parliament;

  • (c) except with respect to Her Majesty in right of Canada or a federal source, the defence that the alleged conduct is authorized by or under a law of a government that is the subject of an order made under subsection 10(3); and

  • (d) the defence of officially induced mistake of law.

• Marginal note:Other defences not excluded

  (2) This section does not limit the availability of any other defences.

Marginal note:Undertakings to pay damages

31 In deciding whether to dispense with an undertaking to pay damages caused by an interlocutory order in an environmental protection action, the court may consider any special circumstances, including whether the action is a test case or raises a novel point of law.

Marginal note:Stay or dismissal

• 32 (1) A court may stay or dismiss an environmental protection action if it is in the public interest to do so.

• Marginal note:Factors to be considered

  (2) In deciding whether to stay or dismiss the action, the court may consider

  • (a) environmental, health, safety, economic and social concerns;

  • (b) whether the issues raised in the action would be better resolved in some other way;

  • (c) whether the Minister has an adequate plan to correct or mitigate the harm to the environment or human, animal or plant life or health or otherwise to address the issues raised in the action; and

  • (d) any other relevant matter.

Marginal note:Remedies

33 If a court finds that the plaintiff is entitled to judgment in an environmental protection action, it may grant any relief mentioned in subsection 22(3).

Marginal note:Orders to negotiate plans

• 34 (1) A court order to negotiate a plan to correct or mitigate the harm to the environment or human, animal or plant life or health may, to the extent that it is reasonable, practicable and ecologically sound, require the plan to provide for

  • (a) the prevention, reduction or elimination of the harm;

  • (b) the restoration of the environment;

  • (c) the restoration of all uses, including enjoyment, of the environment affected by the offence;

  • (d) the payment of money by the defendant as the court may direct to achieve the plan’s purposes; and

  • (e) monitoring the implementation of the plan and the progress made in achieving its purposes.

  Before making the order, the court must take into account any efforts that the defendant has already made to deal with the harm.

• Marginal note:Other orders

  (2) The court may also make interlocutory or ancillary orders to ensure that the negotiation of the plan runs smoothly, including orders

  • (a) for the payment of the costs of negotiation;

  • (b) requiring the plaintiff or the defendant to prepare a draft of the plan; and

  • (c) setting a time limit for the negotiations.

• Marginal note:Appointment of other person to prepare plan

  (3) The court may appoint a person who is not a party to prepare a draft plan if the parties cannot agree on the plan or the court is not satisfied with the plan that they negotiate.

• Marginal note:Order to prepare another plan

  (4) The court may order the parties to prepare another plan if it is not satisfied with the plan that they negotiate.

• Marginal note:Approval and effective date

  (5) The court may approve a plan that the parties negotiate or a plan prepared by a person appointed under subsection (3) and the approved plan comes into effect on a day determined by the court.

Marginal note:Restriction on orders to negotiate plans

35 A court may not order the negotiation of a plan to correct or mitigate the harm to the environment or human, animal or plant life or health if it determines that

• (a) the harm has already been corrected or mitigated; or

• (b) adequate measures to correct or mitigate the harm have already been ordered under this Act or any other law in force in Canada.

Marginal note:Settlement or discontinuance

36 An environmental protection action may be settled or discontinued only with the approval of the court and on terms that it considers appropriate.

Marginal note:Settlements and orders

37 If an environmental protection action results in an order of a court or a settlement approved by a court,

• (a) the resolution of any question of fact by the order or settlement is binding on a court in any other environmental protection action in which that question arises; and

• (b) no other environmental protection action may be brought with respect to the offence or alleged offence dealt with by the order or settlement.

Marginal note:Costs

38 In deciding whether to award costs in an environmental protection action, the court may consider any special circumstances, including whether the action is a test case or raises a novel point of law.

Action to Prevent or Compensate Loss

Marginal note:Injunction

39 Any person who suffers, or is about to suffer, loss or damage as a result of conduct that contravenes any provision of this Act or the regulations may seek an injunction from a court of competent jurisdiction ordering the person engaging in the conduct

• (a) to refrain from doing anything that it appears to the court causes or will cause the loss or damage; or

• (b) to do anything that it appears to the court prevents or will prevent the loss or damage.

Marginal note:Civil cause of action

40 Any person who has suffered loss or damage as a result of conduct that contravenes any provision of this Act or the regulations may, in any court of competent jurisdiction, bring an action to recover from the person who engaged in the conduct

• (a) an amount equal to the loss or damage proved to have been suffered by the person; and

• (b) an amount to compensate for the costs that the person incurs in connection with the matter and proceedings under this section.

Other Matters

Marginal note:Evidence of offence

• 41 (1) In an action under this Part, the record of proceedings in any court in which a defendant was convicted of an offence under this Act is evidence that the defendant committed the offence.

• Marginal note:Certificate evidence of conviction

  (2) In the action, evidence that a defendant was convicted of an offence under this Act may be given by a certificate stating with reasonable particularity the conviction and sentence of the defendant.

• Marginal note:Signature of certificate

  (3) The certificate shall be signed by

  • (a) the person who made the conviction; or

  • (b) the clerk of the court in which the conviction was made.

  Once it is proved that the defendant is the offender mentioned in the certificate, it is evidence without proof of the signature or the official character of the person appearing to have signed it.

Marginal note:Civil remedies not affected

• 42 (1) No civil remedy for any conduct is suspended or affected by reason only that the conduct is an offence under this Act.

• Marginal note:Remedies not repealed, etc.

  (2) Nothing in this Act shall be interpreted so as to repeal, remove or reduce any remedy available to any person under any law in force in Canada.

• Marginal note:Damages caused by a ship

  (3) No claim for damage caused by a ship may be made under this Act to the extent that a claim for that damage may be made under the Marine Liability Act or the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act.

PART 3Information Gathering, Objectives, Guidelines and Codes of Practice

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

43 The definitions in this section apply in this Part.

fish

fish has the meaning assigned by section 2 of the Fisheries Act. (poissons)

hormone disrupting substance

hormone disrupting substance means a substance having the ability to disrupt the synthesis, secretion, transport, binding, action or elimination of natural hormones in an organism, or its progeny, that are responsible for the maintenance of homeostasis, reproduction, development or behaviour of the organism. (substance hormonoperturbante)

Environmental Data and Research

Marginal note:Monitoring, research and publication

• 44 (1) The Minister shall

  • (a) establish, operate and maintain a system for monitoring environmental quality;

  • (b) conduct research and studies relating to pollution prevention, the nature, transportation, dispersion, effects, control and abatement of pollution and the effects of pollution on environmental quality, and provide advisory and technical services and information related to that research and those studies;

  • (c) conduct research and studies relating to

    • (i) environmental contamination arising from disturbances of ecosystems by human activity,

    • (ii) changes in the normal geochemical cycling of toxic substances that are naturally present in the environment, and

    • (iii) detection and damage to ecosystems;

  • (d) collect, process, correlate, interpret, create an inventory of and publish on a periodic basis data on environmental quality in Canada from monitoring systems, research, studies and any other sources;

  • (e) formulate plans for pollution prevention and the control and abatement of pollution, including plans respecting the prevention of, preparedness for and response to an environmental emergency and for restoring any part of the environment damaged by or during an emergency, and establish, operate and publicize demonstration projects and make them available for demonstration; and

  • (f) publish, arrange for the publication of or distribute through an information clearing-house

    • (i) information respecting pollution prevention,

    • (ii) pertinent information in respect of all aspects of environmental quality, and

    • (iii) a periodic report on the state of the Canadian environment.

• Marginal note:Cooperation and agreements

  (2) The Minister may

  • (a) in establishing a system referred to in paragraph (1)(a), cooperate with governments, foreign governments and aboriginal people and with any person who has established or proposes to establish any such system; and

  • (b) with the approval of the Governor in Council, enter into agreements for the operation or maintenance of a system referred to in paragraph (1)(a) by the Minister on behalf of any government, aboriginal people or any person or for the operation or maintenance of any such system by the government or any person on behalf of the Minister.

• Marginal note:Cooperation with other bodies

  (3) The Minister may, in exercising the powers conferred by paragraphs (1)(b) to (e), act in cooperation with any government, foreign government, government department or agency, institution, aboriginal people or any person and may sponsor or assist in any of their research, studies, planning or activities in relation to environmental quality, pollution prevention, environmental emergencies or the control or abatement of pollution.

• Marginal note:Protection of right to healthy environment

  (3.1) The Ministers shall conduct research, studies or monitoring activities to support the Government of Canada in protecting the right to a healthy environment referred to in paragraph 2(1)(a.2).

• Marginal note:Hormone disrupting substances

  (4) The Ministers shall conduct research or studies relating to hormone disrupting substances, methods related to their detection, methods to determine their actual or likely short-term or long-term effect on the environment and human health, and preventive, control and abatement measures to deal with those substances to protect the environment and human health.