Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act (S.C. 2003, c. 7)

Marginal note:Preliminary determination

• 68 (1) Following the conclusion of an agreement for a joint panel, the executive committee shall determine whether the project will be located, or might have significant environmental or socio-economic effects, in the territory of a first nation.

• Marginal note:Distribution of terms of reference

  (2) The executive committee shall provide copies of the terms of reference of a joint panel, and of any modification made to them with the reasons for the modification, to the proponent of the project, to any first nation identified under subsection (1) and to any government agency, independent regulatory agency or first nation that has notified the executive committee of its interest in the project or in projects of that kind.

Marginal note:Equivalence of joint panel review

69 A review by a joint panel fulfils the requirements of any provision of this Act for a review by a panel of the Board.

Reviews of Projects by Panels

Marginal note:Conduct of panel review

• 70 (1) Subject to its terms of reference and any specification referred to in subsection 60(4), a panel of the Board or a joint panel established to review a project may determine any matter that it considers appropriate for the conduct of the review and shall determine

  • (a) a schedule for the review;

  • (b) the information to be provided by the proponent; and

  • (c) the manner of participation by first nations, residents of communities, the federal and territorial governments and interested persons.

• Marginal note:Determination by panel

  (2) Before commencing public hearings, a panel of the Board or a joint panel shall determine whether the project will be located, or might have significant adverse environmental or socio-economic effects, on the settlement land of a first nation or on non-settlement land.

• Marginal note:Location of hearings

  (3) A review of a project by a panel of the Board or a joint panel may include public hearings in any location chosen by the panel and, except in the case of a review requested under subsection 60(4) that is not a public review, shall include public hearings

  • (a) in a community within the territory of each first nation, other than the Tetlit Gwich’in, whose settlement land is identified under subsection (2) — unless the panel and the first nation agree otherwise;

  • (b) in a community within the Gwich’in settlement area referred to in the Gwich’in Agreement, if Tetlit Gwich’in Yukon land is settlement land identified under subsection (2) — unless the panel and the Gwich’in Tribal Council agree otherwise; and

  • (c) in the community in Canada closest to the project, if non-settlement land is identified under subsection (2) — unless another location in Canada is agreed on for that purpose by the panel, the proponent, the decision bodies for the project and any first nation whose settlement land is identified under subsection (2).

• Marginal note:Combined public hearings

  (4) A public hearing held by a panel of the Board or a joint panel for the purposes of the review of a project may be combined with a public hearing held by any other body in relation to the project

  • (a) with the approval of the executive committee, in the case of a panel of the Board; or

  • (b) in accordance with an agreement made under section 67, in the case of a joint panel.

Marginal note:Judicial powers of panels

• 71 (1) A panel of the Board or a joint panel has, for the purposes of a review of a project, the powers, rights and privileges of a superior court with respect to the attendance and examination of witnesses and the production and inspection of documents and other evidence.

• Marginal note:Enforcement by court process

  (2) A summons issued or an order made by a panel of the Board or a joint panel under subsection (1) may be made a summons or order of a superior court 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.

Marginal note:Commencement of panel review

• 72 (1) A panel of the Board or a joint panel established to review a project shall

  • (a) consider whether the applicable rules have been complied with and notify the proponent accordingly; and

  • (b) commence the review as soon as possible after it notifies the proponent that, in its opinion, the applicable rules have been complied with.

• Marginal note:Other information

  (2) A panel of the Board or a joint panel may seek any information or views that it believes relevant to its review.

• Marginal note:Other information

  (3) Before making a recommendation under this section, a panel of the Board or a joint panel shall seek views about the project, and information that it believes relevant to the review, from any first nation consulted under subsection 50(3) or identified under subsection 66(3) or 68(1) and from any government agency, independent regulatory agency or first nation that has notified the executive committee of its interest in the project or in projects of that kind.

• Marginal note:Recommendations of panel

  (4) At the conclusion of its review, a panel of the Board or a joint panel shall recommend to the decision bodies for the project that

  • (a) the project be allowed to proceed, if it determines that the project will have no significant adverse environmental or socio-economic effects in or outside Yukon;

  • (b) the project be allowed to proceed, subject to specified terms and conditions, if it determines that the project will have, or is likely to have, significant adverse environmental or socio-economic effects in or outside Yukon that can be mitigated by those terms and conditions; or

  • (c) the project not be allowed to proceed, if it determines that the project will have, or is likely to have, significant adverse environmental or socio-economic effects in or outside Yukon that cannot be mitigated.

• (4.1) to (4.4) [Repealed, 2017, c. 34, s. 6]

• Marginal note:Other recipient of recommendation

  (5) A recommendation of a panel of the Board or a joint panel shall be made in writing with reasons and a copy provided to the proponent.

73 [Repealed, 2015, c. 19, s. 24]

Consideration of Recommendations and Issuance of Decision Documents

Marginal note:Consideration of accompanying information

• 74 (1) A decision body considering a recommendation in respect of a project shall give full and fair consideration to scientific information, traditional knowledge and other information that is provided with the recommendation.

• Marginal note:First nations without final agreements

  (2) A decision body considering a recommendation in respect of a project shall consult a first nation for which no final agreement is in effect if the project is to be located wholly or partly, or might have significant adverse environmental or socio-economic effects, in the first nation’s territory.

Marginal note:Decision on recommendation from designated office or joint panel

75 If a designated office or a joint panel makes a recommendation to a decision body, the decision body shall issue a decision document within the period prescribed by the regulations accepting, rejecting or varying the recommendation.

Marginal note:Decision on recommendation from executive committee or panel of Board

• 76 (1) Subject to section 59, if the executive committee or a panel of the Board makes a recommendation to a decision body, the decision body shall, within the period prescribed by the regulations,

  • (a) issue a decision document accepting the recommendation; or

  • (b) refer the recommendation back to the executive committee or the panel for reconsideration by it, unless that recommendation was made in response to a previous referral under this paragraph.

• Marginal note:Notice of referral back

  (2) When a decision body refers a recommendation back to the executive committee or a panel of the Board for reconsideration, it shall give notice of the referral to every person or body referred to in paragraphs 81(1)(a), (b) and (f) to (i).

• Marginal note:Effect of referral back

  (3) On being notified under subsection (2),

  • (a) every other decision body for the project shall discontinue its consideration of the recommendation; and

  • (b) no person or body required under sections 82 to 88 to implement a decision document already issued shall take any action that would enable the project to be undertaken.

Marginal note:Reconsideration on referral back

• 77 (1) When it reconsiders a recommendation that is referred back to it under paragraph 76(1)(b), the executive committee and the panel of the Board may exercise the powers and shall perform the duties that they have, respectively, in relation to screenings and reviews.

• Marginal note:Time limits

  (2) The executive committee or panel of the Board shall make a new recommendation to the decision bodies in respect of the project within the period prescribed by the rules. If it does not make such a recommendation, it is deemed to have made the same recommendation that it made at the conclusion of its screening or review.

• Marginal note:New recommendation

  (3) Every decision body shall, within the period prescribed by the regulations, issue a decision document accepting, rejecting or varying the new recommendation, and that decision document replaces any previous decision document issued by it in respect of the project.

Marginal note:Consultation between decision bodies

• 78 (1) Where decision documents must be issued in relation to a project by more than one decision body, the decision bodies shall, before issuing the decision documents, consult one another in accordance with the regulations with a view to making their decision documents conform.

• Marginal note:Consolidation of decision documents

  (2) Any two or more decision bodies in respect of a project may agree to consolidate their decision documents.

Marginal note:Mining interest on settlement lands

79 Notwithstanding sections 75 and 76, where a project involves a right to work mines and minerals situated in category B or fee simple settlement land or Tetlit Gwich’in Yukon land, and decision documents must be issued in relation to the project by a first nation as well as by a federal decision body or the territorial minister, neither of those decision bodies may reject or vary any recommendation made in respect of the project except on the ground that a recommended term or condition is

• (a) insufficient to prevent unacceptable environmental or socio-economic effects in Yukon;

• (b) more onerous than necessary to prevent such effects; or

• (c) so onerous as to undermine the economic viability of the project.

Marginal note:Decision body’s reasons

• 80 (1) A decision body shall include in a decision document the reasons for which it rejected or varied any recommendation.

• Marginal note:Statutory Instruments Act

  (2) A decision document is not a statutory instrument for the purposes of the Statutory Instruments Act.

Marginal note:Distribution of decision documents

• 81 (1) A decision body shall provide copies of a decision document to

  • (a) every other decision body for the project;

  • (b) the proponent of the project;

  • (c) the designated office in whose assessment district the project is proposed to be undertaken;

  • (d) the executive committee, if the recommendation to the decision body was made by the executive committee, a panel of the Board or a joint panel;

  • (e) [Repealed, 2015, c. 19, s. 28]

  • (f) any independent regulatory agency from which an authorization is required, or to which an application is made for financial assistance, to enable the project to be undertaken;

  • (g) the Yukon Surface Rights Board, if an access order is required for the project under the Yukon Surface Rights Board Act;

  • (h) a body established by territorial law and having jurisdiction in relation to rights in respect of waters, if the grant of rights from that body is required for the project under territorial law; and

  • (i) any other person or body that is required to implement the decision document under subsection 82(2), 83(2) or 84(2) or (3).

• Marginal note:Decision not in conformity with land use plan

  (2) If a decision document allows a project to be undertaken not in conformity with a regional land use plan referred to in section 44, the decision body shall provide a copy of the decision document to the planning commission and to any person or body that approved the plan.

Implementation of Decision Documents

Marginal note:Federal agencies

• 82 (1) A federal agency that is a decision body for a project shall not undertake the project, require that it be undertaken or take any action that would enable it to be undertaken until it has issued a decision document under section 75, 76 or 77 allowing the project to be undertaken.

• Marginal note:Implementing decision document

  (2) Notwithstanding the limitations in any other federal law, a federal agency undertaking a project, requiring it to be undertaken or taking any action that enables it to be undertaken shall implement a decision document issued by it in respect of the project.

Marginal note:Territorial agencies and municipal governments

• 83 (1) Where the territorial minister is a decision body for a project, no territorial agency or municipal government shall undertake the project, require that it be undertaken or take any action that would enable it to be undertaken until the territorial minister has issued a decision document under section 75, 76 or 77 allowing the project to be undertaken.

• Marginal note:Implementing decision document

  (2) To the extent of its authority under the Yukon Act, territorial laws or municipal by-laws, every territorial agency and every municipal government undertaking a project, requiring it to be undertaken or taking any action that enables it to be undertaken shall implement a decision document issued by the territorial minister in respect of the project.

Marginal note:First nations

• 84 (1) A first nation that is a decision body for a project shall not undertake the project, require that it be undertaken or take any action that would enable it to be undertaken until it has issued a decision document under section 75, 76 or 77 allowing the project to be undertaken.

• Marginal note:Implementing decision document

  (2) To the extent of its authority under the Yukon First Nations Self-Government Act, first nation laws or its final agreement, a first nation undertaking a project, requiring it to be undertaken or taking any action that enables it to be undertaken shall implement a decision document issued by it in respect of the project.

• Marginal note:Decision document relating to mines

  (3) Notwithstanding subsection (2), if a project involves a right to work mines and minerals in category B or fee simple settlement land or Tetlit Gwich’in Yukon land, a first nation taking any action that enables the project to be undertaken shall implement

  • (a) a decision document issued in respect of the project by the territorial minister to the extent that it is inconsistent with the first nation’s decision document, where the Commissioner of Yukon has the administration and control of those mines and minerals; or

  • (b) a decision document issued in respect of the project by a federal agency to the extent that it is inconsistent with the first nation’s decision document, where the federal agency has the administration of those mines and minerals.