Environmental assessment process substitution

Federally, the Minister of the Environment has the power to substitute processes under subsection 43(1) of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA), which reads: Where the referral of a project to a review panel is required or permitted by this Act and the Minister is of the opinion that a process for assessing the environmental effects of projects that is followed by a federal authority u [...] No public consultation was undertaken prior to the decision by the Federal Minister of the Environment to substitute the NEB process for that of the CEAA process, despite the fact that this decision marked the first attempt at process substitution under the CEAA. [...] The purpose of this paper is to present the first hand experiences of people who participated in the environmental impact assessment of the Emera Brunswick Pipeline, the first and only substitution of a panel review under the CEAA for that of the NEB. [...] For example, the preamble of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act states that: the Government of Canada is committed to facilitating public participation in the environmental assessment of projects to be carried out by or with the approval or assistance of the Government of Canada and providing access to the information on which those EAs are based. [...] The following presents the data from the focus group that related to the elements, painting a picture of a process that did not have the characteristics of meaningful public participation from the participant’s perspective.