Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999

Marginal note:Orders of court

• 291 (1) Where an offender has been convicted of an offence under this Act, in addition to any other punishment that may be imposed under this Act, the court may, having regard to the nature of the offence and the circumstances surrounding its commission, make an order having any or all of the following effects:

  • (a) prohibiting the offender from doing any act or engaging in any activity that may result in the continuation or repetition of the offence;

  • (b) directing the offender to take any action that the court considers appropriate to remedy or avoid any harm to the environment that results or may result from the act or omission that constituted the offence;

  • (c) directing the offender to prepare and implement a pollution prevention plan or an environmental emergency plan;

  • (d) directing the offender to carry out environmental effects monitoring in the manner established by the Minister or directing the offender to pay, in the manner prescribed by the court, an amount for the purposes of environmental effects monitoring;

  • (e) directing the offender to implement an environmental management system that meets a recognized Canadian or international standard;

  • (f) directing the offender to have an environmental audit conducted by a person of a class and at the times specified by the court and directing the offender to remedy any deficiencies revealed during the audit;

  • (g) directing the offender to publish, in the manner directed by the court, the facts relating to the conviction;

  • (h) directing the offender to notify, at the offender’s own cost and in the manner directed by the court, any person aggrieved or affected by the offender’s conduct of the facts relating to the conviction;

  • (i) directing the offender to post any bond or pay any amount of money into court that will ensure compliance with any order made under this section;

  • (j) directing the offender to submit to the Minister, on application by the Minister made within three years after the date of conviction, any information with respect to the offender’s activities that the court considers appropriate and just in the circumstances;

  • (k) directing the offender to compensate the Minister, in whole or in part, for the cost of any remedial or preventive action taken by or caused to be taken on behalf of the Minister as a result of the act or omission that constituted the offence;

  • (l) directing the offender to perform community service, subject to any reasonable conditions that may be imposed in the order;

  • (m) directing that the amount of any fine or other monetary award be allocated, subject to the Criminal Code and any regulations that may be made under section 278, in accordance with any directions of the court that are made on the basis of the harm or risk of harm caused by the commission of the offence;

  • (n) directing the offender to pay, in the manner prescribed by the court, an amount for the purposes of conducting research into the ecological use and disposal of the substance in respect of which the offence was committed or research relating to the manner of carrying out environmental effects monitoring;

  • (o) directing the offender to pay, in the manner prescribed by the court, an amount to environmental, health or other groups to assist in their work in the community where the offence was committed;

  • (p) directing the offender to pay, in the manner prescribed by the court, an amount to an educational institution for scholarships for students enrolled in environmental studies; and

  • (q) requiring the offender to comply with any other reasonable conditions that the court considers appropriate and just in the circumstances for securing the offender’s good conduct and for preventing the offender from repeating the same offence or committing other offences.

• Marginal note:Publication

  (2) Where an offender fails to comply with an order made under paragraph (1)(g) directing the publication of the facts relating to the offence, the Minister may publish the facts in compliance with the order and recover the costs of publication from the offender.

• Marginal note:Debt due to Her Majesty

  (3) Where the court makes an order under paragraph (1)(k) directing an offender to pay costs or the Minister incurs publication costs under subsection (2), the costs constitute a debt due to Her Majesty in right of Canada and may be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

• Marginal note:Coming into force and duration of order

  (4) An order made under subsection (1) comes into force on the day on which it is made or on any other day that the court may determine and shall not continue in force for more than three years after that day.