Nunavut Planning and Project Assessment Act (S.C. 2013, c. 14, s. 2)

Marginal note:Reconsideration of terms and conditions

• 112 (1) The Board may, on its own initiative or at the request of the designated Inuit organization, the proponent or any interested person, reconsider the terms and conditions set out in a project certificate that it has issued if

  • (a) the terms and conditions are not achieving their intended purpose or are having effects that are significantly different from those anticipated at the time the certificate was issued;

  • (b) the circumstances relating to the project are significantly different from those anticipated at the time the certificate was issued; or

  • (c) technological developments or new information provides a more efficient method of achieving the intended purpose of the terms and conditions.

• Marginal note:Minister’s initiative

  (2) The Board must reconsider the terms and conditions set out in a project certificate that it has issued if the responsible Minister is of the opinion that any of paragraphs (1)(a) to (c) applies.

• Marginal note:Notice

  (3) The Board must notify the proponent and the responsible Minister in writing of a reconsideration undertaken under subsection (1) or the proponent of a reconsideration undertaken under subsection (2).

• Marginal note:Conduct of reconsideration

  (4) The Board may conduct its reconsideration of the terms and conditions in the manner that it considers appropriate in the circumstances.

• Marginal note:Report

  (5) Within 45 days after the end of the Board’s reconsideration under subsection (1) or (2), the Board must submit a written report to the responsible Minister that contains

  • (a) an assessment of the terms and conditions in force; and

  • (b) any terms and conditions that it recommends should apply in respect of the project.

• Marginal note:Minister’s decision

  (6) The responsible Minister must, within 90 days after receiving a report submitted under subsection (5), in respect of each term or condition recommended in that report either

  • (a) accept it; or

  • (b) reject it or vary it in any manner that that Minister considers appropriate, under section 108 or if, alone or combined with other terms or conditions,

    • (i) it is insufficient, or more onerous than necessary, to adequately mitigate the adverse ecosystemic and socio-economic impacts of the project, or

    • (ii) it is so onerous that it would undermine the viability of the project that is in the national or regional interest.

• Marginal note:Additional terms and conditions

  (7) In exercising the powers and performing the duties and functions under subsection (6), the responsible Minister may impose additional terms and conditions in order to adequately mitigate the adverse ecosystemic and socio-economic impacts of the project.

• Marginal note:Extension of time limit

  (8) If the responsible Minister is of the opinion that more time is needed to exercise powers and perform duties and functions in respect of the report, that Minister may extend the period referred to in subsection (6) by up to 90 days and must notify the proponent of the extension in writing.

• Marginal note:Notification by Minister

  (9) The responsible Minister must, as soon as practicable, notify the Board in writing of the terms and conditions, established in accordance with subsections (6) and (7), that are to apply in respect of a project.

• Marginal note:Amended project certificate

  (10) Within 30 days after receiving the notice under subsection (9), the Board must issue an amended project certificate that sets out the terms and conditions contained in that notice.

Marginal note:Location of impacts

113 The ecosystemic and socio-economic impacts of the project, both inside and outside of the designated area, must be taken into account for the purposes of sections 101 to 112.

Marginal note:Priority

114 The responsible Minister may indicate to the Board that a review or a reconsideration of terms and conditions is a priority in relation to other reviews or reconsiderations and may propose a reasonable period within which it must be completed.

Federal Environmental Assessment Panel

Marginal note:Establishment

• 115 (1) After receiving a project proposal under subparagraph 94(1)(a)(i), the Minister of the Environment must establish a federal environmental assessment panel consisting of members, including a Chairperson, appointed by that Minister.

• Marginal note:Composition

  (2) The following rules apply in respect of the appointment of members of the panel, other than the Chairperson:

  • (a) at least one quarter of the members must be appointed on the nomination of the territorial Minister; and

  • (b) at least one quarter of the members must be appointed on the nomination of the organization referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition designated Inuit organization in subsection 2(1).

• Marginal note:Impartiality and qualifications

  (3) The Minister of the Environment must appoint as members of the panel persons who are unbiased and free from any conflict of interest relative to the project and who have special knowledge or experience relevant to the anticipated technical, environmental or social impacts of the project.

• Marginal note:Status of Inuk

  (4) A panel member is not placed in a conflict of interest solely because the member is an Inuk as defined in section 1.1.1 of the Agreement.

• Marginal note:Eligibility

  (5) A person is not ineligible for appointment to a panel merely because the person is a member of the Board.

Marginal note:Primary objectives

• 116 (1) A federal environmental assessment panel must exercise its powers and perform its duties and functions in accordance with the following primary objectives:

  • (a) to protect and promote the existing and future well-being of the residents and communities of the designated area; and

  • (b) to protect the ecosystemic integrity of the designated area.

• Marginal note:Other residents

  (2) The panel must take into account the well-being of residents of Canada outside the designated area when exercising its powers or performing its duties and functions in accordance with the objective set out in paragraph (1)(a).

• Marginal note:Interpretation

  (3) For greater certainty, the panel must exercise its powers and perform its duties and functions under paragraph 123(1)(c) in accordance with the objectives set out in subsection (1).

Marginal note:Terms of reference

117 The Minister of the Environment must, in consultation with the responsible Minister, fix the terms of reference for the panel and send the project proposal to the panel. The Minister of the Environment must include in the terms of reference any issues or concerns identified under section 97 and may identify other issues or concerns that must also be considered by the panel in its review of the project.

Marginal note:Scope of project

• 118 (1) The Minister of the Environment must, in consultation with the responsible Minister, determine the scope of the project and, in making that determination, must

  • (a) include within the scope of the project, in addition to any work or activity identified in the project proposal, any other work or activity that the Minister of the Environment considers sufficiently related to the project to form part of it; and

  • (b) exclude from the scope of the project any work or activity identified in the project proposal that the Minister of the Environment considers insufficiently related to the project to form part of it.

• Marginal note:Consultation

  (2) The Minister of the Environment may only make an inclusion under paragraph (1)(a) or an exclusion under paragraph (1)(b) after consulting with the proponent in respect of the contemplated changes and taking into account any comments the proponent may make in respect of them.

• Marginal note:Process suspended

  (3) If the Minister of the Environment makes an inclusion under paragraph (1)(a), the panel must not proceed with the review and the Commission as well as the federal Minister or the territorial Minister, or both, must exercise their powers and perform their duties and functions under sections 77, 81 and 82 in relation to the entire project.

Marginal note:Review

119 The panel must review the project if the Minister of the Environment has not made an inclusion under paragraph 118(1)(a) or if that Minister made an inclusion under that paragraph and the panel receives a decision, by reason of subsection 118(3), that the entire project is in conformity with any applicable land use plan, that a minor variance or a ministerial exemption has been granted in respect of it or that there is no land use plan applicable to it.

Marginal note:Impact statement — guidelines

• 120 (1) A federal environmental assessment panel must issue guidelines in respect of the preparation of a statement by the proponent on the ecosystemic and socio-economic impacts of the project.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Despite subsection (1), a panel need not issue guidelines if it is of the opinion that the information contained in the description of the project or information submitted under subsection 144(1) is sufficient to allow it to conduct a review of the project.

• Marginal note:Content of impact statement

  (3) The guidelines must specify the types of information referred to in subsection 101(3) that the proponent must include in the impact statement.

• Marginal note:Comments — Board

  (4) The panel must send a draft of the guidelines to the Board, and the Board must provide its comments on them to the panel.

• Marginal note:Comments — departments or agencies, etc.

  (5) The panel must make a draft of the guidelines public, in both official languages of Canada and in Inuktitut and must solicit written and oral comments on them from appropriate departments or agencies, appropriate designated Inuit organizations, affected municipalities, interested corporations and organizations, Inuit and other residents of the designated area and the general public.

• Marginal note:Consultation

  (6) After receiving the Board’s comments and after allowing a reasonable period for the submission of comments under subsection (5), the panel must, taking into account the comments received, make any changes to the draft guidelines that it considers necessary and send the guidelines to the proponent.

• Marginal note:Submission of statement

  (7) The proponent must submit an impact statement prepared in accordance with the guidelines to the panel.

• Marginal note:Recommendations — Board

  (8) As soon as practicable after receiving the impact statement, the panel must send it to the Board so that the Board has sufficient time to analyse the statement and provide its concerns or recommendations to the panel no later than five days before the public hearing.

• Marginal note:Recommendations taken into account

  (9) The panel must take into account the Board’s concerns and recommendations with respect to the impact statement.

Marginal note:Public hearing

• 121 (1) A federal environmental assessment panel must hold a public hearing in respect of a project.

• Marginal note:Duty

  (2) The panel must take all necessary steps to promote public awareness of and participation in the public hearing, including through the choice of the date, time and place of the hearing, notice given in relation to them and measures taken to disseminate any relevant information.

• Marginal note:Informal proceedings

  (3) A panel must, to the extent that is consistent with the general application of the rules of procedural fairness and natural justice, emphasize flexibility and informality in the conduct of public hearings and in particular must

  • (a) allow, if appropriate, the admission of evidence that would not normally be admissible under the strict rules of evidence; and

  • (b) give due regard and weight to the Inuit traditions regarding oral communication and decision-making.

• Marginal note:Designated Inuit organization

  (4) A designated Inuit organization has full standing to appear at a public hearing for the purpose of making submissions on behalf of the people it represents.

• Marginal note:Languages

  (5) The panel must conduct any public hearing in both of the official languages of Canada in accordance with the Official Languages Act and any directives of the responsible Minister and, on request by a member, a proponent or an intervenor, in Inuktitut.

• Marginal note:Members

  (6) Nothing in subsection (5) is to be construed as preventing the use of translation or interpretation services if a member is otherwise unable to conduct business in either official language or in Inuktitut.

• Marginal note:Witnesses

  (7) The panel has the duty to ensure that any witness giving evidence before it may be heard in either official language or in Inuktitut, and that in being so heard the witness will not be placed at a disadvantage by not being heard in another of those languages.

• Marginal note:Summon witnesses, etc.

  (8) A panel has, in respect of public hearings, the power to summon any person to appear as a witness before the panel and to order the witness to

  • (a) give evidence, orally or in writing; and

  • (b) produce any documents or other things that the panel considers necessary to conduct its review of the project.

• Marginal note:Enforcement of attendance, etc.

  (9) A panel has the same power to enforce the attendance of witnesses and to compel them to give evidence and produce documents and things as a superior court.

• Marginal note:Hearing may be closed to public

  (10) A panel may close all or part of a hearing to the public if it is satisfied, after submissions made by a proponent or other witness, that the evidence, documents or things to be disclosed in the hearing contain

  • (a) confidential, personal, business proprietary or privileged information; or

  • (b) information whose disclosure would cause specific, direct and substantial harm to the witness or cause specific ecosystemic or socio-economic harm.

• Marginal note:Non-disclosure

  (11) Evidence, documents or things referred to in subsection (10) must not be, or be permitted to be, disclosed without the authorization of the witness, by any person who has obtained the evidence, documents or things under this Act.

• Marginal note:Enforcement of summonses and orders

  (12) A summons issued or an order made by a panel under subsection (8) may be made a summons or order of the Nunavut Court of Justice by filing a certified copy of it with the registrar of the court and, when so made, is enforceable in the same manner as a summons or order of that court.