Lands & Regulation - Nunavut Planning - Industry Letter

section 95 (modification or abandonment of a project) – 120 days plus a potential
extension for an additional 60 days;
section 105 (ministerial decision following a determination by the Nunavut Impact
Review Board (NIRB) that a project should proceed) – 120 days plus a potential
extension for an additional 60 days; and
section 106 (ministerial decision following a determination by the NIRB that a project
should not proceed) – 120 days plus a potential extension for an additional 60 days).
Second, of even greater concern are the elements of the process that could last for as much as 360
days, or essentially an entire year, instances of which are as follows:
section 125 (ministerial decision following a determination by a federal environmental
assessment panel that project should proceed) – 180 days plus a potential extension for an
additional 180 days;
section 126 (ministerial decision following a determination by a federal environmental
assessment panel that project should not proceed) – 180 days plus a potential extension
for an additional 180 days;
Conversely, there are elements of the assessment and review process that, in our view, should
have been the subject of timelines or timeframes, but none have been provided for. Examples
include:
section 99 – determination of the scope of a project by the NIRB;
section 101 – development, approval and issuance of the guidelines for the preparation of
an environmental and socio-economic impact statement; and
sections 102 and 103 – conduct and completion of the review of the proposed project by
the NIRB.
We further note that subsection 92(4) authorizes the Minister to extend the 45-day period for
submission of the report that the NIRB is required to submit pursuant to subsection 92(1).
However, unlike other provisions that authorize an extension, subsection 92(4) does not
specifically limit the number of days for which the extension can be made.
Finally, we note that the words “as soon as practicable” are used in section 110, subsection
112(9), subsection 120(8) and section 131. However, the draft legislation provides no further
guidance as to how quickly the actions described in those sections must be completed.
In our analysis, under a “worst case scenario” the timelines and timeframes that currently appear
in the proposed legislation could potentially require up to 800 days in order to complete the
overall impact assessment process. However, as noted above, no timelines or timeframes have
been provided for a number of important steps in the overall process. Taking all of these factors
into account, and having regard to past environmental assessments, experienced industry
observers have suggested that, under Bill C-25, three to five years could potentially be needed to
complete the assessment of a major mining project in Nunavut. While a time period of this
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