Impact Assessment Act (S.C. 2019, c. 28, s. 1).

The purposes of the Impact Assessment Act are: (a) to foster sustainability; (b) to protect the components of the environment, and the health, social and economic conditions that are within the legislative authority of Parliament from adverse effects caused by a designated project; (b.1) to establish a fair, predictable and efficient process, encourages innovation and creates opportunities for sustainable economic development; (c) to ensure that impact assessments of designated projects take into account all effects — both positive and adverse; (d) to ensure that designated projects are considered in a careful and precautionary manner to avoid adverse effects within federal jurisdiction and adverse direct or incidental effects; (e) to promote cooperation and coordinated action between federal and provincial governments and the federal government and Indigenous governing bodies that are jurisdictions; (f) to promote communication and cooperation with Indigenous peoples of Canada; (g) to ensure respect for the rights of the Indigenous peoples; (h) to ensure that opportunities are provided for meaningful public participation; (i) to ensure that an impact assessment is completed in a timely manner; (j) to ensure that an impact assessment takes into account scientific information, Indigenous knowledge and community knowledge; (k) to ensure that an impact assessment takes into account alternative means; (m) to encourage the assessment of the cumulative effects of physical activities; and (n) to encourage improvements to impact assessments through the use of follow-up programs.
The Impact Assessment Act addresses the following: (1) names the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada as the authority responsible for impact assessments; (2) provides for a process for assessing the environmental, health, social and economic effects of designated projects with a view to preventing certain adverse effects and fostering sustainability; (3) prohibits proponents, subject to certain conditions, from carrying out a designated project if the designated project is likely to cause certain environmental, health, social or economic effects, unless the Minister of the Environment or Governor in Council determines that those effects are in the public interest, taking into account the impacts on the rights of the Indigenous peoples of Canada, all effects that may be caused by the carrying out of the project, the extent to which the project contributes to sustainability and other factors; (4) establishes a planning phase for a possible impact assessment of a designated project, which includes requirements to cooperate with and consult certain persons and entities and requirements with respect to public participation; (5) authorizes the Minister to refer an impact assessment of a designated project to a review panel if he or she considers it in the public interest to do so, and requires that an impact assessment be referred to a review panel if the designated project includes physical activities that are regulated under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act, the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act and the Canada–Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord Implementation Act; (6) establishes time limits with respect to the planning phase, to impact assessments and to certain decisions, in order to ensure that impact assessments are conducted in a timely manner; (7) provides for public participation and for funding to allow the public to participate in a meaningful manner; (8) sets out the factors to be taken into account in conducting an impact assessment, including the impacts on the rights of the Indigenous peoples of Canada; (9) provides for cooperation with certain jurisdictions, including Indigenous governing bodies, through the delegation of any part of an impact assessment, the joint establishment of a review panel or the substitution of another process for the impact assessment; (10) provides for transparency in decision-making by requiring that the scientific and other information taken into account in an impact assessment, as well as the reasons for decisions, be made available to the public through a registry that is accessible via the Internet; (11) provides that the Minister may set conditions, including with respect to mitigation measures, that must be implemented by the proponent of a designated project; (12) provides for the assessment of cumulative effects of existing or future activities in a specific region through regional assessments and of federal policies, plans and programs, and of issues, that are relevant to the impact assessment of designated projects through strategic assessments; and (13) sets out requirements for an assessment of environmental effects of non-designated projects that are on federal lands or that are to be carried out outside Canada.