Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act

Marginal note:Conclusion of agreement

• 67 (1) Where the Minister of the Environment agrees to a request made by the executive committee under paragraph 61(1)(c), the executive committee may, with the approval of the federal minister, enter into an agreement with the Minister of the Environment for the establishment of a joint panel to conduct a review of the project.

• Marginal note:Joint panel agreement

  (2) In circumstances referred to in paragraphs 65(1)(a) to (c), the executive committee may, with the approval of the federal minister, enter into an agreement for the purpose referred to in subsection (1) with

  • (a) the Minister of the Environment; or

  • (b) any authority having power to examine the environmental or socio-economic effects of the project, or of an activity that is to be undertaken partly outside Yukon and of which the project forms part.

• Marginal note:Contents of agreement

  (3) An agreement for the establishment of a joint panel must

  • (a) provide for the composition of the joint panel, the manner of appointment of its members and the selection of a chairperson;

  • (b) contain the terms of reference of the joint panel and indicate how they may be modified;

  • (c) require the joint panel to take into consideration the matters set out in subsections 42(1) to (3) in its review and permit it to take into consideration any other matter that it considers relevant;

  • (d) prescribe rules to be followed in the conduct of the review, including rules about the information to be provided by the proponent, the scheduling of the review, the quorum, the mode of participation of interested persons and the integration of scientific information, traditional knowledge and other information;

  • (e) name a person or body that consents to indemnify the members of the joint panel in accordance with subsection (5) and, if it is the Board, indicate that the federal minister concurs; and

  • (f) require that, on completion of the review, the joint panel submit a report to the decision bodies for the project and publish the report.

• Marginal note:Publication of notice

  (4) The executive committee shall publish, in a periodical that, in its opinion, has a large circulation in Yukon,

  • (a) a notice of the conclusion of an agreement for the establishment of a joint panel and the manner in which copies of the agreement may be obtained by the public; and

  • (b) a notice of any amendments made to the agreement and the manner in which copies of the amendments and the reasons for them may be obtained by the public.

• Marginal note:Indemnification of panel members

  (5) The members of a joint panel shall be indemnified by the person or body referred to in paragraph (3)(e) for all damages awarded against them, for any settlement paid by them with the approval of the federal minister and that person or body and for all expenses reasonably incurred by them, in respect of any claim arising out of their functions as members that were carried out honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interests of the joint panel.